House of Lion, House of Witch, & House of Wardrobe
by theboyandgirlwhowaited
Summary: Nina, Fabian, Amber, Eddie, Patricia, Joy, Alfie, Mara, Mick, and Jerome have their lives turned upside down when they're evacuated to the countryside to live at Anubis House with Professor Diggory Kirke to wait out the air raids. But when Nina Martin happens to find an old wardrobe during a game of hide-and-seek, nothing will be the same again. AU. 3rd genre: romance
1. The Neighborhood

**House of Lion, House of Witch, & House of Wardrobe**

**Summary: **Nina, Eddie, Fabian, Jerome, Amber, Mick, Mara, Alfie, Patricia, and Joy are ten ordinary children living in plain old, boring Liverpool. Until the Germans begin dropping bombs over England and they're evacuated to the countryside to live at Anubis House with Professor Diggory Kirke until it's safe to return home. But when Nina Martin happens to find an old wardrobe during a game of hide-and-seek, nothing will ever be the same again.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own House of Anubis or the Chronicles of Narnia. Also, I'm not British, and I don't live in the 1940s, so if some of the language and terms used aren't historically accurate, sorry!

**A/N: **I know, I should really be working on Coraline 2 instead of writing another story. But I just HAD to write this.

I got the idea for this story about three or four months ago, the day right after the HOA season 2 finale. I'd just rewatched the finale that morning, and then I was flipping through the channels when I saw that ABC family was showing the first two Narnia movies with deleted scenes (which by the way, is like Christmas come early for me.) So I started watching The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. And I'm not really sure how, but I started thinking about House of Anubis while I was watching it, and then I thought "Hey...what would happen if HOA and Narnia were put together?" It sounded weird at first but then I was like "OMG, that could work." So then I kept on thinking about it and got so many ideas on how it would work and I was like OH MY GOSH I'VE GOT TO WRITE THIS. So I completely forgot about the movie, grabbed my computer, and started writing.

Basically, Narnia and House of Anubis are two of some of my favorite things. I know I haven't written a Narnia fanfic in like 3 years, but I used to be obsessed with Narnia, the books and the movies. No, really. You don't understand, I loved them with my whole entire heart, and I still do - I'm just not crazily obsessed anymore. But Narnia is like my childhood, I don't think my love for it can even be explained. Then, on the other hand, House of Anubis is my second favorite TV show of all time (the only thing that beats it is Doctor Who.) I don't even care that the acting isn't good and the plots are a little out there and the sets aren't the best and it's kinda cheesy sometimes. I love it. I love all the characters, the mystery is great, I love the plots, and I love how every episode leaves you super excited for the next one.

Anyways, I've been working on this story for a really long time, and I've got to say I actually really like it. And I hope you like it as much as I do (and that someone actually reads it...)

**IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ: This story is AU. Nina, Fabian, Amber, Patricia, Eddie, Alfie, Jerome, Mara, Joy, and Mick live in England. The year is 1941. They've never stayed in Anubis House boarding school, and there is no Egyptian mystery. No Senkhara, no Sarah Frobisher-Smythe, etc. Also, Nina and Eddie are twins, Fabian and Jerome are cousins, and Mick and Amber are siblings. Basically, the HOA characters take the place of the Pevensie children (Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy) in this story. The Pevensies don't exist in this story. Sad, but yeah.**

Anyways, if you've read this entirely long A/N, then congratulations! Have a free cookie. Now you can read the story and please review and tell me what you thought! :)

**CHAPTER ONE:**

**The Neighborhood**

"Is that everything?"

"That's about the fifteenth time you've said that, Eddie," I sighed, running a hand through my long brown hair.

He ignored me, staring at our grandmother expectantly. "Well, is it?"

Gran chuckled. "Yes, it is. Go, run off and do whatever it is that fifteen-year-old boys do."

"Yes!" Eddie cheered, grabbing a cookie from the brown paper bag that my Gran had packed for the long ride. Surprisingly, there were still some left. Quickly, he bounded outside and across our new front lawn, off to do who knows what.

Gran chuckled again. "Boys," she said, rolling her eyes. I smiled back. Suddenly she stopped, looking up to me and pushing a strand of hair behind my head. "Are you alright, Nina? With the move and everything?"

I nodded. "Yeah, fine."

Gran stared at me for a few minutes and I groaned inwardly. I was a terrible liar, and to make matters even worse, my Gran could read me like an open book. She _always _knew when something was wrong. But fortunately, she let the matter drop. "Alright. Do you want some lemonade? I was just about to make some."

I shook my head. "No thanks. I was just going to grab a glass of water and sit on the back porch for a bit."

"Okay. Be careful," Gran warned.

"I will," I said, fixing myself a glass of water and opening the screen door to the back porch. I sighed and sat down, placing my cup right next to me, stretching out my feet and watching my surroundings. Judging by the way that the sun was hanging squarely in the middle of the sky, it was probably about noon.

I sighed and glanced over my shoulder and smiled a little bit. Leave it to my grandmother to make herself busy only a few hours after we'd just moved in. In all the time I'd known her, Gran had never been known to keep still. It was one of the many things I loved about her.

I sighed again, turning back to face my brand new backyard. Even though I loved her, I was still a little angry with her. After all, it was her fault that we moved. San Francisco, California, had been my home. It was where most of my friends were and where I went to school, and I'd left all of that behind.

California hadn't always been my home, though. I was born in Tucson, Arizona, where I lived with both of my parents and my twin brother, Eddie. We lived happy, normal lives for five years, until quite unexpectedly, both my parents died in a car accident. Both of them were an only child, so we had no aunts or uncles to take us in. Our only relative was our Gran on our mother's side, who lived in San Francisco.

So, we'd been shipped off there, which was a huge adjustment. After all, Eddie and I had never met our Gran before, not to mention we were very young and had never even been out of Arizona. But we managed. We adjusted. We grew to love our Gran, and she loved us. We weren't normal, but we were happy again. California became familiar, and soon, it became our home.

Until ten years later, or to be more precise, two months ago, when Gran announced that she wanted to move.

It blew Eddie and me away, definitely, although I wasn't sure why. Gran had been living in San Francisco for about twenty-five years, which to her, was a lifetime. She'd never been known to stay in one place for very long. "I need a change of scenery," she'd told us.

Naturally, we expected to move to another city in California or maybe even a nearby state.

What we didn't expect was moving halfway across the world to Liverpool, England.

Apparently, she'd worked it all out. She had a friend living in Liverpool that she'd been keeping up with through letters in the recent years. Gran told her friend about how dull her job as a secretary in California was, and how desperate she was of a change and that she was growing tired of San Francisco. Her friend wrote back, suggesting that she start over, and that a job as a teacher for children was open in the school she was working at, which was in Liverpool.

After much thinking about it, Gran told her friend that she wanted to apply. "It's always been a dream of mine to teach," she had explained to Eddie and me. "This is the perfect opportunity!" I just wasn't sure why we had to move to practically the other side of the world for her to live her dream as a teacher.

I mean, it'd always been a dream of mine to visit England. I loved the flag, the accents, the Big Ben...everything about it. But _living _there? That was a whole other story.

Even so, one month later our whole house was packed up, and we'd taken a flight to England only five days ago. Now, we were here, in our brand new home, where I knew no one other than my grandmother and my annoying twin brother.

Needless to say, I wasn't very happy about it.

I mean, I'd been really looking forward to the summer, before I'd found out about the move. I'd been looking forward to the pool with my friends, going down to the shops, buying ice cream at the local ice cream parlor, and spending the day in the backyard jumping rope beneath the hot summer sun.

But what was I supposed to do now that summer had arrived and I was in a completely different country where I knew _no one_? School hadn't started yet, so I had no friends. _I suppose there might be some teenagers living in the neighborhood, _I thought to myself.

"Hullo."

_Speak of the devil. _I jumped up, whirling to face a boy's head hovering above the fence that separated our house from the house next to us. My eyes widened and I jumped backwards in surprise, nearly knocking my forgotten cup of water over. The boy blushed. "S-sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," he said embarrassingly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Er, it's alright..." I said uncertainly, slowly approaching the boy and observing him.

If I squinted, I could make out the fuzzy glow coming off of him - a mixture of colors, but gray and baby blue stood out the most. I wasn't alarmed, though. I know it sounds weird, but most people I've met have had a fuzzy glow with a mixture of colors coming off of them. I can only see them if I try to, though. And they're not on _everyone _I meet, but they're on most of them.

I've actually been able to see these "glows" for most of my life, and I'm pretty sure most normal people can't see them. Which, I guess, is a little weird. I asked Gran about it one time when I was seven, but she just waved it off and told me I just had a wild imagination. And who knows? Maybe it is all in my head. It's not dangerous and it doesn't bother me, so I usually don't even worry about it.

Anyways, when I was twelve, I figured out that each color coming off of someone meant a specific personality trait or a feeling they were having at the moment. For instance, the gray color coming off the boy across the fence usually meant shyness or quietness. The baby blue color usually meant kindness. I wasn't always right about this - I'd been wrong quite a few times, actually.

I took my eyes away from the hue surround the boy and looked at the rest of him. He looked like he was around my age, and he was cute, as well. And something about him gave me the impression that he was clever. It was only assumption, but it was just something about him...maybe it was his warm, chocolate brown eyes...

Finally I realized that we'd been standing there in silence for a while, me gawking openly at him. I felt my face heat up. "Hi," I finally blurted out.

_Really, Nina? All you could get out was a lame 'hi'?_

"Hi," the boy waved shyly, blushing slightly.

I tucked a strand of sandy blonde hair behind my ear. "Uh, you already said that," I pointed out.

"Right. I knew that." _Wow, I really, really love British accents. _"Did you just move in?" He asked, blushing and changing the subject.

"Yeah, we actually got here about two hours ago," I replied. Then I raised my eyebrows. "Uh...just wondering, but how exactly did you get up there?"

The boy looked down at his feet and laughed. "Oh, there's a giant crate perched beneath the fence. I use it all the time-" Suddenly he stopped. "I mean, I just figured out it was here..." I giggled, and he smiled at me. "I live here, by the way," he added, gesturing to the house.

"Yeah, I figured." I smirked at him.

"Oh, yeah, right," the boy blushed again. _Yep, I was right. Shy and sweet. A little awkward, though...but hey, it's kind of cute. _"Hey, p-pardon my asking, but are you American?"

"Yeah, I am," I smiled. "My grandmother, my brother, and I just moved here from California."

"Oh, well, welcome to Liverpool," The boy grinned cheekily. "I'm not sure if it'll be nearly as exciting as California, but I hope you enjoy it here, besides."

"Well, I don't know," I replied, giggling. "We don't have floating head neighbors in California."

The boy pretended to be surprised. "Really? How odd."

I laughed. "I'm Nina, by the way." I stuck out my hand, and then took it back. "Actually, that's probably not a very good idea."

The boy looked down at his precarious position and laughed. "Yeah, probably not. I'm Fabian Rutter."

"Well I'm pleased to meet you, Fabian Rutter," I said in a fake British accent. Then I cringed. "How'd I do?"

"Eh..." Fabian tilted his hand back and forth, making a so-so motion, the other hand still tightly gripping the fence. "Needs a bit of work."

We both laughed.

"Fabian!" a voice called from inside of Fabian's house. "Lunch time!"

Fabian sighed. "Coming, Mum!" He turned back to me. "Sorry," he smiled apologetically. "I guess I've got to go, then. It was nice meeting you, though, Nina."

"Nice meeting you, too," I smiled, and then bit my lip. "Although, I suppose I already said that, only in a bad impression of a British accent..."

Fabian laughed. "See you later, Nina!" He waved as he hopped down, his floating head disappearing from view. A few moments later I heard the door shut. Smiling to myself, I practically skipped inside the house.

"You're in a good mood," Eddie observed, lounging on our new couch and munching on food, as usual. I briefly wondered when he'd come inside from doing his "boy stuff", until I realized that I didn't really care.

I shrugged. "Maybe," I replied, trying to hide my grin.

"Does it have anything to do with that boy that you were talking to across the fence?" He asked, lifting his eyebrows.

"Were you _spying _on me?" I demanded.

Eddie smirked. "Maybe," he mimicked in a high, girly voice. I glared at Eddie, hitting him on the shoulder. "Oh no, I'm wounded!" Eddie cried, holding a hand over his shoulder, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Oh, shut up," I rolled my eyes. He just snickered and jumped off the couch, retreating upstairs. "I don't sound like that, by the way!"

"Whatever!" Eddie mimicked me again.

**x.X.x**

"Hey, did you know that a family moved into the house next to mine today?" Fabian asked suddenly.

He and his friends were lying around Amber and Mick Campbell's parlour. It was around two o'clock in the afternoon, and the seven friends were hot and bored, and had nothing to do or talk about it. That was, until that exact moment. At Fabian's news, everyone sat up, suddenly interested. "Really? With children our age?" Mara Jaffray asked inquisitively.

"Yeah. Well, there's a girl our age, at least," Fabian explained. "I talked to her over the fence. She looked nice."

"Oh, really?" Mick asked, smirking at Fabian.

"No, I meant, she seems nice," said Fabian, blushing.

"Course you did," said Mick, snickering.

"Wait, a girl our age?" Amber asked, completely ignoring her older brother. Fabian nodded. "Really? That's wonderful! Ooh, what if we all end up being really great friends, and she can come over here and spend time with us all the time, and - oooh!" Amber suddenly shouted, causing Mick to fall backwards in surprise. She went on, seemingly not noticing. "Does she like shopping? Because if she did then that would be absolutely perfect!"

"Why?" Mick asked, sitting up again, still a little taken aback.

Amber rolled her eyes. "_Because,_ then I would have someone to go shopping with!" She said, as if everyone should know this.

"Why couldn't you just go by yourself?" Mick grumbled.

"Because! Everyone knows that it's not _nearly _as fun to buy clothes by yourself! And anyways, I could always use a second opinion," Amber said, flipping her long blonde hair over her shoulder. Mick just rolled his eyes.

"Honestly, I don't know how girls can get so excited about shopping," muttered Patricia Williamson, saying the word _shopping _like some people would say the word _dirt. _Mick silently agreed, but didn't say anything so he wouldn't get the same glare that Amber had sent to Patricia.

"Amber, I've got no idea if she likes shopping," replied Fabian. "It wasn't exactly high on my priority list when I was talking to her. I think she said she had a brother, though."

Amber and Joy perked up again, but before they could bombard him with questions about the new boy, Alfie cut in. "What's the girl's name? Is she pretty?" He quickly looked over at Amber and then hastily added. "Not that I'm interested or anything!" Amber ignored it, but everyone else hid smirks. They all knew that Alfie was crazy about Amber, although she was completely clueless.

"Her name is Nina," Fabian said, turning slightly red.

"Nina? What kind of name is that?" Patricia asked out loud. Mara elbowed her in the rib and she cleared her throat. "Sorry." Although she probably wasn't.

"Fabian, you haven't answered Alfie's question, yet," said Mick, who enjoyed teasing his awkward friend.

"Yeah, I guess she's pretty..." Fabian muttered.

"What's that? I couldn't hear you, mate," Mick cupped a hand around his ear.

"Oh, come off it, Mick," said Mara, always the keeper of peace, although she was giggling. Then again, she was always giggling whenever Mick did something. "Don't tease him about it."

"I have a fabulous idea," Amber declared, standing up. "I'm going to ask Mum to throw a dinner tomorrow night to welcome the new family into the neighborhood!"

"That's a great idea, Amber," Mara complimented.

"I know, I know," Amber said immodestly, smiling brightly. "I'm a bit of a genius." Happily, she skipped up the steps. "Mum! I need to talk to you!"

Mick sighed and rolled his eyes, slumping into the sofa. "Sometimes I don't know how I can stand her."

"Fabes, isn't your cousin in town?" Joy asked, rolling onto her stomach and calling Fabian by the little pet name she had for him.

Fabian groaned loudly. "Yes."

"Where is he, anyway?" Alfie asked curiously.

"Probably at my house, locked up in the guest bedroom," Fabian sighed. "I swear, he hardly ever comes out of there when he visits."

"Rude," Joy remarked.

"You don't even know the half of it," Fabian sighed again.

Amber bounded back down the steps, grinning. "Mum said yes! And all of you are invited as well! Even your cousin, Fabian!"

"Ahh, yay," Fabian said with mock enthusiasm.

Amber clapped her hands excitedly. "This is going to be so much fun!"

**x.X.x**

Nina was running. She felt slightly panicked, although she wasn't sure why. As she ran, she only saw flashes of things - things like paintings, windows, even a suit of armor. None of it made much sense.

Then she came to the realization that she had stopped running and now she was standing in a room that was mostly empty except for something at the back. Before she could make out what it was, the scene had changed again.

Once again, all she saw were scenes flashing before her eyes. The only thing that stood out was that everything she saw was completely white.

Nina's eyes opened and she sat up in her bed with a start. At first she was frightened when she looked around at the unfamiliar room that she was sleeping in, until she remembered that this was her new home. She sighed in relief, laying back down.

She thought back to the dream again - the running, the empty room, the flashes of white. It didn't make any sense, but she felt like she'd dreamt the same thing before. Or, not the exactly the same thing. But something really similar. It was one of those random senses of deja vu that you get but you can't ever remember what brought it on.

Nina sighed, shaking her head. It was just a dream, after all. There wasn't any point in thinking about it any longer. She settled back into her new bed and closed her eyes. In a few minutes, she was asleep again.

**A/N: **So, just to wrap up -

Nina and Eddie are twins. They were born in America, but then their parents died so they moved to California to live with their Gran, who became their legal guardian. Then, Gran decided to move to England because she was bored of California and she needed a change of scenery and she's weird. Now they've just moved to Liverpool, and they now live in a little neighborhood with Patricia, Amber, Fabian, Mick, Joy, Alfie, and Mara, who have lived in the neighborhood most, if not all, of their life.

Jerome is Fabian's cousin, and right now he's visiting him. Also, Amber and Mick are brother and sister, with a year's difference between both of them - Mick is the oldest.

I think that should probably clear everything up, but if not, ask in a review!

Hope you enjoyed it, and please review!


	2. Meet the Neighbors

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Narnia or House of Anubis, and I don't live in England in the 1940s so some of the terms are probably historically inaccurate.

**CHAPTER TWO:**

**Meet the Neighbors**

"Mick! I'm going to stop by the new family's house and deliver the invitation!" Amber cried, poking her head out the back door.

Mick looked up from the football he'd been kicking around, about thirteen yards away. "What?" He called.

"I'm going to go deliver the invitation!" Amber shouted louder.

Mick lifted an eyebrow. "Uh, okay?" He shouted back, wondering why she had bothered to tell him, and then resumed kicking around the football. Amber rolled her eyes, shutting the back door behind her.

It didn't take her long to walk to the house the new family lived in. She knew exactly which house it was, it'd been vacant for a few years now. She stopped at the end of the driveway to quickly smooth out her pleated skirt and blouse before happily skipping up to the front porch and ringing the doorbell.

She'd been hoping that Nina would answer the door, mostly just to find out if she liked shopping and was willing to be her shopping buddy, but instead, Eddie answered the door. Amber wasn't too disappointed, though - Eddie was fit. Amber subtly ran a hand through her blonde hair to smooth it out - although, it wasn't like her hair could be more perfect than it already was.

"Uh, hi," Eddie said as he opened the door, looking a little surprised. After all, they'd just moved in and they were already getting visitors. But hey, when a pretty blonde girl showed up at his door, he usually didn't question it.

Amber smiled, curling a strand of hair around her finger. "Hullo, I'm Amber Campbell. I live at the house down at the end of the street, and I was wondering if you and your family would be interested in coming to our house tonight for dinner?" She asked. Then added, "As a sort of welcome into the neighborhood. My mum's cooking, and it's sure to be fabulous."

Amber handed Eddie the invitation, which she had especially decorated herself. Eddie read it for a moment, nodding. "Alright, we'll be there." He looked up and flashed Amber an award-winning smile. "As long as I get to know you better."

Amber couldn't help but giggle. "Aw, you're too kind," she said, flipping her long blonde hair over her shoulder. "Wait, are you American?" Eddie opened his mouth, but she cut him off. "Nevermind, it doesn't matter. I'll see you later, though," she smiled flirtatiously and turned around and left. Her job was done.

Now it was time to help her mum prepare for the dinner.

**x.X.x**

"Jerome! Time for lunch!"

Jerome groaned. He was sprawled across the bed in the guest bedroom at Fabian's house, staring at the drab white ceiling. The same thing he'd been doing for...well, however long he'd been here.

He didn't mind much, though. He liked being alone, which was hard around here. Whenever he left the room, his aunt immediately bombarded him with questions. She was _always _asking him about himself - his school, what he liked to do in his free time, etc. It was annoying, and weird. It's not like his life was some huge interesting thing, anyways. Usually he tried to give short answers, so she would get the point and drop it, but it never seemed to work. His aunt was nice enough, but she sure was dim.

Tossing his legs over the bed, he got up and slowly opened the door, climbing down the stairs. Mr. and Mrs. Rutter and Fabian - or as Jerome liked to call him, Stutter Rutter - at around the table, patiently waiting for him. Jerome snarled to himself. The Rutters were the picture-perfect family - polite, nice, welcoming, and pretty well off, money-wise. Not to mention they all loved each other.

Jerome would never admit it, but he would give anything to be his cousin. _Anything._ Even if Fabian was a complete dork.

"Let's all join hands," Mrs. Rutter said as Jerome plopped down at the empty seat at the table. He groaned inwardly as he held hands with everyone around the table. "Bow your heads," said Mrs. Rutter. Jerome didn't. He never did. He didn't have anything to be thankful for, anyways.

After the short prayer, everyone began to eat. Jerome grabbed two rolls and a piece of meatloaf and piled them on his plate and began to eat while everyone else talked about some dinner party tonight. Jerome learned early on that if he didn't make eye contact with anyone, then they wouldn't include him on the conversation. So Jerome kept his head bent and his eyes on his plate.

"You've been invited too, Jerome."

Well, sometimes his theory worked.

Jerome looked up. "Invited to what?"

"The Campbells are having a welcoming party for the new neighbors that moved in next door, and they've invited us," Mr. Rutter explained.

Jerome raised an eyebrow. "Why did they invite _me? _I don't even live here."

"Because they're nice people, and they want you to feel included," Mrs. Rutter replied.

"Well...what if I don't want to go?" Jerome questioned.

Fabian sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Why wouldn't you want to go?" Mrs. Rutter asked, trying to be patient.

Jerome shrugged. "Not my thing."

"Well, you're going to have to go, because we're not leaving you here by yourself." Mr. Rutter said with finality. He wasn't as patient as his wife.

"You don't trust me?" Jerome said in mock surprise.

Mrs. Rutter ignored his sarcasm. "Besides, it would be polite to go. All the neighbors are very nice, I'm sure you'll like them."

Fabian scoffed.

"Have something to say, do you, Fabian?" Jerome turned to him, narrowing his eyes.

"Hm?" Stutter Rutter looked up, pretending to be clueless. "Oh, n-nope. Just coughing on a bit of m-meatloaf, that's all."

There was an awkward silence, and Mrs. Rutter cleared her throat. "I would greatly appreciate it if you came," she said sincerely.

Jerome was quiet for a minute. "I'll think about it," he replied, grabbing his plate and standing up. "I'm done," he said, not even bothering to excuse himself.

"You only had half a roll. Are you sure you wouldn't like some more meatloaf?" Mrs. Rutter offered.

"No," Jerome said. And, deciding to make a little of an effort, he added, "Thank you." He smirked as he saw Mr. Rutter's eyes widen in surprise. "I think I'll go take a walk, if you don't mind."

"No, that's fine," Mrs. Rutter said faintly. "Just be careful and don't wander too far."

She watched as Jerome left the house, and sighed. She was trying, she really was. But Jerome was impossibly stubborn and rude, not to mention he hardly ever came out of the guest bedroom. She might as well just give up - he seemed to like being alone, anyways. But she couldn't. He was her family, and she was supposed to protect her family. It wasn't as if there was anyone else to protect Jerome, anyways.

Jerome's life at home was completely terrible. Most people didn't know about it, not even Fabian. Even Mrs. Rutter didn't know all the details, but she knew enough to know how horrible and inhumane it was.

She knew that Jerome's father had left the family when he was four years old. It wasn't surprising, though. John Clarke hated his wife, and everyone had known it. They were always fighting and arguing about every single thing. It'd been terrible to deal with them at family gatherings.

After John left, Mrs. Clarke became bitter. She'd never been very nice before, but the abandonment made her even worse. The only person for her to take her anger out on was her son. She constantly told him that she didn't care about him and that he was completely worthless to her. And eventually, she even got tired of having the burden of taking care of him on her own. So she sent him to a boarding school in Leeds when he was only five years old. _Five. _Such a young age to be so far away from home without your parents.

Mrs. Rutter thought it was the most terrible thing she'd ever heard.

When Mrs. Clarke was too lazy, she would force Jerome to stay at the boarding school during the summer while everyone else was on vacation, simply because she didn't want him bothering her. Sometimes, she would send him home for the summer - three months of total and complete neglect. Mrs. Rutter didn't know which sounded worse.

Finally, this year, she decided to do something about it. Jerome wasn't her blood relative - he was her husband's sister's son - but she _was _his family. And she wasn't going to sit idly by and let something so terrible happen to her nephew. So, she offered that Jerome stay at her house for the entire summer.

It turned out, Mrs. Clarke had actually been going to arrange for Jerome to stay at her house that summer, instead of at the boarding school, which is what he'd been doing for the past two years. But she agreed to the change of plans, eager to have her son out of her hair. So the moment that the term was over, Jerome was shipped right to Liverpool to stay with his cousin, aunt, and uncle.

Although, Mrs. Rutter hadn't pictured it to be quite like this. It'd never occurred to her what the giant toll of being unloved by his mother and having no father figure would take on Jerome's life. And it hadn't done anything good. He was stubborn, bitter, cruel, and extremely sarcastic. It was quite annoying, actually. She wasn't sure what she'd been thinking - maybe that Jerome would be grateful that he didn't have to have another terrible, lonely summer, and that he'd have fun. Maybe that he'd make friends with Fabian and the rest of the children in the neighborhood.

But summer was already two weeks in, and the only things that Jerome had been doing so far was staying locked up in the guest bedroom. He only ever came down for meal-times.

But maybe, something would change at the dinner party. Maybe he'd see how nice people could be, and he'd open up and make friends and forget about his terrible mother.

That was what Mrs. Rutter was hoping for, at least.

**x.X.x**

"Do you think Fabian fancies Nina?"

Patricia groaned. "Oh, _don't_ tell me you're all hung up on Fabian again." Mara stifled a giggle.

"Of course not!" Joy cried defensively. The three girls sat on the porch swing in Mara's backyard, gently swinging back and forth. Joy shifted in her seat, avoiding her friends' gazes. "I'm just curious, that's all. "

"Joy, come on. You're such a bad liar," Mara said, giggling.

Patricia nudged her. "You're one to talk, Mara! Don't you remember the time at school I asked you to cover for me and you starting babbling to Mr. Sweet about _endangered_ _hedgehogs_?"

"How could I forget?" Mara laughed.

"Hullo? We're talking about my problems, remember!" Joy cried, gesturing to herself.

Mara sighed. "I doubt he fancies her, Joy. He only met her yesterday, after all," she reasoned.

"But the way he was talking about her-"

Patricia groaned again. "Come on, Joy, this is _Fabian _we're talking about. We've known him since we were little, not to mention he's a complete _nerd._"

"No, he's not," Joy insisted. "He's sweet, and cute..."

"Ugh, you're impossible," Patricia moaned.

"So, what are you two wearing tonight?" Mara asked, changing the subject. She really didn't want to go back up the "Fabian Road" again - Joy had a massive crush on Fabian a few years back, and it had been terrible. He'd been the only thing she'd talked about for months.

"What, do we have to wear something special?" Patricia asked. The three girls were sitting on the porch swing in Mara's backyard, swinging gently back and forth.

Mara giggled. "_Yes,_ Patricia. It's a _formal_ event."

Patricia sighed and slumped into the porch swing. "Well, I've got nothing to wear."

"You could borrow something of mine," Joy offered.

"You're too short. No offence," Patricia added.

Joy shrugged. She was used to it. "What time is it?"

"Um, I think it's just past three," Mara replied, peering through the screen door to see what the clock in the kitchen said.

Patricia sighed and slid off the porch swing. "Well, I suppose I should go home and find something to wear. God knows it'll take all day," she rolled her eyes and waved to her two friends. "Bye Joy, bye Mara."

"Yeah, I should probably be going as well," Joy said as she hopped off the bench. "Mrs. Campbell asked my mum to bake some of her cherry cheesecake, and she asked me to help her. Bye, Mara."

Mara nodded. Mrs. Mercer's cheesecake was rather good. "Bye, Joy. See you later." Sighing, Mara swung back and forth on the bench in silence. It had been a rather calm day - she'd woken up unusually late, and missed breakfast, so she'd spent what was left of the morning in her father's vacant study, reading a book. Her parents hadn't been around - they'd gone off to play cricket with one of their friends. Mara's parents were sports fanatics. From an early age, they had tried to get her involved in sports, but she'd never been any good at it. She excelled in school, however, and although she knew her parents were proud of her for that, she always felt like she was disappointing them by never having an interest in sports.

Mara sighed again and hopped off the porch swing, going inside and stopping briefly to pet the family cat. "Hey, Mum?" She called upstairs. Her parents had just gotten back from their cricket trip an hour ago.

"Yes, honey?" Mrs. Jaffray called back.

"May I go outside for a walk?"

"Sure. Just be careful and don't stay out too long! Remember, we've got that dinner at the Campbells at six-thirty."

"I won't!" Mara called back, and with that made her way out of the house and began strolling down the street.

She liked to take walks. She figured she could always use some fresh air, seeing as she didn't spend much time outside, anyways. Plus, it was easy to clear her mind when she took a walk. She hesitated in front of the Campbells house, briefly wondering whether she should go around back to see if Mick was out. He usually was, playing football or some other type of sport. He was a sports fanatic as well, just like her parents.

Mara chewed her lip and finally decided to keep walking. She doubted Mick wanted to see her anyways.

Mara fancied Mick. She couldn't help it. It'd started out as a small crush, but every time she saw him, her liking for him seemed to grow. It'd started about three months ago, when Mick had asked her over to his house to help him with a problem for school. Of course, she said yes. She loved to help her friends, especially with school. Amber and their parents weren't there, so it was only Mick and Mara. She'd always known he was attractive - everyone did - but that day, something changed. After she'd finished helping him, she'd stayed over there for about another hour or so. They talked, but to Mara, it was more than that. He told her about his dreams, what he wanted to do with his life, how sometimes he felt like he just wasn't good enough. And she told him about herself in return - how she always felt like she was disappointing her parents, etcetera.

That day she realized that he wasn't just some sporty lad who wasn't smart. He was sweet, he was kind, and he was funny. And that day, she realized that she, Mara Jaffray, liked Mick Campbell.

They hadn't spoken much after that. Sometimes, it felt like Mick saw right through her. Sometimes it felt like she should just give up. After all, they didn't have very much in common. And he was _Mick Campbell. _She was just shy, awkward, Mara Jaffray. Why would he ever fancy someone like her?

But Mara couldn't help but hope that someday, he would fancy her just as much as she fancied him.

Suddenly and quite unexpectedly, Mara found herself toppling forward. For a second, she was suspended in thin air. She screamed, clenching her eyes shut and holding out her hands, bracing herself for the harsh pavement, but it never came. Instead, someone grabbed her by the waist, setting her up straight. Quickly, she shoved the hands off of her and whirled around to see a boy standing in front of her, raising an eyebrow.

"Do you normally trip over innocent people sitting by the street?" He asked. He was a stranger - a fit stranger, at that. He had dark blond hair and piercing blue eyes, and he was rather tall. Then again, she was also rather short.

"Er, n-no," she stuttered out, looking around. They stood beneath a lamppost, right by the sidewalk. "Wait, did I t-trip over you?"

The boy smirked. "Yeah, you did."

"What? How?" Mara asked. She was usually very aware of things - surely she would've noticed a strange boy in the street that she was about to trip over.

The boy shrugged. "I dunno, I was just sitting against the lamppost, minding my own business, when..." His voice trailed off and he gestured to Mara.

Mara blushed, tucking a strand of her dark hair behind her ear. "Oh. S-s-sorry."

The boy shrugged again and didn't answer.

"Are you the boy that just moved in?" asked Mara, quickly changing the subject so the boy would know she could talk without stuttering and that she wasn't prone to falling over people every five seconds.

"No," he replied.

"Oh," said Mara, awkwardly.

"I'm visiting my cousin," he said.

"Oh," Mara said again. "_Oh! _You must be Fabian's cousin?"

"You know him?" He asked.

"Of course I do, I practically grew up with him!" Mara cried, grinning.

The boy wrinkled his nose. "Really? Poor you."

"Oh, no, I love Fabian! Well, not like that, I mean, we're just friends. But he's rather nice - he's very smart, too. And he's funny, though he _can _be a bit awkward sometimes-"

"Yeah." The boy cut her off surprisingly and abruptly. "I think he's a bit of a wet blanket, really." Mara opened her mouth to defend her friend again, but he interrupted her...again. "Before you go on rambling again, do you think I could get a name out of you?"

Mara blushed again and held out her hand. "I'm Mara Jaffray." The boy shook it. "Jerome, right?"

Jerome grinned. "The one and only."

Mara was going to point out that he was _not _the one and only Jerome, and in fact there were millions of Jeromes all around the world, but she decided against it. "Are you going to the dinner tonight?"

"I think I have to," Jerome replied, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, don't worry. Everyone's really nice. I'm sure you'll have fun. I'll be there," Mara said cheerily. "Oh, speaking of the dinner, I should probably be going home, but it was nice meeting you. I'll see you tonight!" Mara waved and walked past him on the way to her house. Once her back was facing him, she rolled her eyes. She hated the fact that she suddenly became incredibly awkward and embarrassing when she was talking to a boy.

"Yeah, bye," Jerome said, nodding as she walked away. Jerome stared after her, and then shook his head, turning to continue his walk. Mara Jaffray. A beautiful girl with a unique name. And a habit of being awkward and tripping over people in the middle of the street. Although, he had to admit it was kind of cute how she kept blushing and managing to completely embarrass herself. Jerome grinned to himself. _If this is just one of the girls in this neighborhood, I can't wait to see the rest of them. _

**x.X.x**

Alfie Lewis didn't normally care too much about how he looked.

Unless Amber Campbell was involved, who he saw nearly every day.

So in that case, he cared about how he looked most all the time.

Alfie scanned the contents of his wardrobe, looking for something that would really make Amber notice him. He tossed random articles of clothing on his bed that he thought would look nice on him until there was a large pile.

Alfie wasn't sure why he fancied Amber so much. Maybe it was her sense of humor, or the way she looked, or her confidence. Maybe it was a bit of everything. All he knew was that he'd had a crush on her for a long time. And he was determined to get her to like him, too.

"Are you almost ready, Alfie?" His mum called from down the hall.

Alfie groaned. "Hang on, Mum!"

Alfie stood back and examined the pile of clothes on his bed. After trying a few things on, he finally picked a nice, crisp white shirt, some black slacks, and a navy blue bow tie to go with it. He put on the outfit and smiled at his reflection in the mirror. "Try to say no to this, Amber!" He said, doing a little dance that he always did when he was excited.

He heard a snort and whirled to face his mother, who was standing in the doorway to his bedroom. She quickly straightened, trying to pretend like she hadn't been laughing. But Alfie had heard her. "Muuuum! I told you to always knock!"

"Well sorry, Alfie, but your door was wide open," said Mrs. Lewis, snickering slightly. "Are you ready yet?"

"Yes," Alfie grumbled, putting on a pair of shoes and stomping out of his room.

Alfie and his parents left their house and began to make their way up the street to Amber and Mick's house. Mr. Lewis was the one who rang the doorbell, and almost immediately, Amber opened the door. She looked stunning. As usual.

"Alfie, yay! I'm so glad you're here!" Amber cheered happily, wrapping him in a big hug and nearly crushing his arm. He didn't mind, though. Not at all. "And you look great, by the way!" She grinned at him.

Alfie grinned to himself. "Why thank you, Amber. You look very stunning, as well."

Amber smiled at him, a real smile, not one of those "I know, I'm so gorgeous" smiles. "Thanks, Alfie," she said.

Alfie just grinned wider. _Success._

**x.X.x**

"What to wear, what to wear..." Nina murmured, rummaging through her wardrobe. Almost everything had been successfully unpacked earlier that day, including her clothes, which were now hanging in her wardrobe. Earlier, Eddie had told her that a girl had come over and invited them to go to dinner at one of their neighbors houses to welcome them to the neighborhood. _Word gets around fast here, _Nina thought to herself. Still, it was awfully kind of them.

"Nina, you've been going through your wardrobe for about an hour. Just pick something," Eddie groaned as he poked his head in the door, bringing her back to the present.

Nina just rolled her eyes and didn't answer him.

Finally, she decided on a black skirt and a yellow lacy blouse with some black ballet flats and her favorite necklace with a pendant shaped like an eye on it. It had been her mother's necklace, and now Nina wore it all the time.

She examined her reflection in the mirror and smiled. The outfit was perfect. Two hours of ransacking her wardrobe had definitely paid off.

Finally, Nina met her grandmother and her brother out on the lawn, where they made their way down to the Campbells house at the very end of the block.

"Hi!" The door swung open to reveal a blonde girl that looked about Nina and Eddie's age, grinning brightly. "You must be Nina, and you're...?"

"Eddie," Eddie said, giving the girl a bright smile. Nina rolled her eyes. Eddie _would _try to flirt with a girl he'd only just met. Amber then exchanged greetings with Gran.

After exchanging greetings with Gran, she said, "It's nice to meet you! I'm Amber." Nina squinted at the hue surrounding the blonde girl - again, it was a mixture of colors (it was like that for everyone most of the time, unless they were as dull as a brick), but pink and yellow stood out the most. Bubbly and girly. Although, Nina didn't even have to check Amber's fuzzy glow to observe that she seemed like the girly type. The pink dress and silver glittery heels were a big clue.

Amber opened the door wider and Nina, Eddie, and Gran stepped inside. Gran did her best to be polite, but Nina and Eddie openly gawked as they stared around at their surroundings. The house was huge from the outside, but the inside was even more fantastic. There was huge glittering chandelier, a spiral staircase, a large dining hall...

"Wow, your house is awesome!" Eddie said, his eyes wide.

Amber grinned. "We just put in the chandelier a few months ago. _I _think it's a great addition, but Daddy says it's too fancy..."

"It's lovely," Nina assured her, smiling.

"I know! That's what _everyone _says, but Daddy just can't be pleased, I suppose." Amber rolled her eyes. Eddie just stared at her as if she was speaking another language. "Anyways, the adults are dining in the large dining room," she said to Gran. "You can go ahead down there if you want - it's the room to your right. You can't miss it." Gran said thanks and made her way down the hall, telling telling her grandchildren to be careful. "You'll be eating with all the other children in a separate dining room," Amber explained as she led Nina and Eddie down the hallway. She glanced at Nina. "You met Fabian the other day, right?"

"Yeah," Nina replied, nodding.

"Who's Fabian?" Eddie asked, then his eyes widened with recognition. "_Oh! _Is that the boy you were so- ow!" He cried as Nina harshly shoved him in the ribs.

Amber lifted an eyebrow, but continued anyways. "He told all of us about meeting you. Just wondering...do you like shopping?" She peered curiously at Nina.

"Er...sometimes, I guess..." Nina said hesitantly.

Amber grinned and clapped her hands together happily. "Yay! I _love _shopping! We could go shopping together all the time! There's so many great shops downtown, I go all the time but it'll be so much better going with a friend..." Her voice trailed off as they finally reached the smaller dining room. Nina's eyes widened again. If this was the smaller dining room, she couldn't imagine what the larger one looked like. A large bay window overlooked the Campbells' backyard, and a radio was positioned in the corner of the room. Six children sat around a large table and immediately smiled and said hello as they entered the room.

"Everyone, this is Nina and Eddie," Amber declared. "That's my brother, Mick, right there," she said, pointing to a fit blonde boy, "that's Joy Mercer," she pointed to a petite girl with dark hair and tan skin, "that's Mara Jaffray," she pointed to another petite girl with dark hair and skin a little darker than Joy's - Nina had a feeling she was going to get her and Joy confused, "that's Fabian...although you already met him," Amber pointed to Fabian. "That's his cousin, Jerome," she pointed to a blonde boy, who barely looked up when his name was called, "and that's Alfie Lewis." She lastly pointed to a skinny boy with dark skin.

"Best for last!" Alfie cried, jumping up and pumping his fist in the air. Amber raised an eyebrow, looking unamused. Disappointed, Alfie lowered back into his seat. Nina hid a smirk.

"Anyways...where's Patricia?" Amber asked. Everyone looked at each other and shrugged. "Well, feel free to go ahead and sit down," she said to Nina and Eddie.

"Actually, I think I'm going to go stop at the toilet for a bit," Eddie replied, quickly backing out of the room. Nina just rolled her eyes and sat down at the empty seat between Amber and Fabian, blushing slightly as she waved at the brunette. He smiled shyly and waved back. Joy watched the exchange, her eyes narrowed slightly.

Eddie hummed slightly as he walked down the corridor. "Now where on earth is the bathroom.." He said to himself as he turned down another corridor, and then another, and another. "This house is so big, I wouldn't be able to find the bathroom even if I _lived _here," he muttered to himself.

_Bam! _Eddie turned a corner and promptly ran smack dab into something...or a someone. Eddie blinked, steadying himself, and looked down. A girl was sprawled on the carpet in front of him, having been most likely knocked down from the force of him running into her. She had short dark red hair, and was wearing a white button-down shirt with a tight, dangerously short black skirt.

Yep, he'd run into a _someone_, all right, and it sure was an attractive someone. _This must be Patricia._ He was about to lean down and help the girl up, but before he could even start, she snapped, "Watch where you're going, weasel!"

_Great. Pretty, but with a temper._

Well, two could play at that game. Eddie crossed his arms in front of his chest and narrowed his eyes at the girl he was assuming was Patricia. "_Don't get yah knickers inna twist,_" he said, mocking a British accent. Patricia narrowed her eyes. "It's not my fault you ran into me!"

"Excuse me, _you're _the one that ran into me! And you're not even going to help me up, either? What a gentleman! Not to mention you've got a _fantastic _attitude! All the girls must absolutely _love _you!" She snarled, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Well excuse me if I'm a bit bitter that I'm stuck in Boresville, UK, listening to some whiny girl blame me for something that was her fault." Eddie scoffed. "Sorry, but I don't usually make a point to be kind to others while they're screaming at me."

Patricia gave him a steely look and stood up, brushing herself off. "American, huh? No wonder you have such bad manners."

"Oh, are we stereotyping now?" Eddie scoffed. "How clever." He leaned against the wall behind his back, crossing his arms and watching Patricia amusedly, like he was so much better than her. Which, of course, absolutely infuriated her.

"Who are you, anyway?" Patricia demanded angrily. "The boy that just moved in, I presume?"

"Who are you?" Eddie shot back, ignoring her question.

"I asked first."

"Really?" Eddie snickered. "How old are you, five?" Patricia sneered at him. "Fine then. I guess I'll just take a shot in the dark and assume you're Patricia." Patricia crossed her arms in front of her chest and lifted an eyebrow. "The pretty blonde girl was looking for you."

"She has a name," Patricia spat, glaring at the blonde. "It's Amber. If you would be _ever _sokindto use it. And next time you run into someone, remember it's considered _polite _to apologize in this country."

"God, do you _ever _stop talking?" Eddie whined, rolling his eyes. "You should've been named Blabs or something. Patricia's far too nice of a name for _you._" Patricia narrowed her eyes. "Or Yacker. Hey, I like it. Maybe I should just call you Yacker instead."

"And maybe _I _should call _you_ a cab back to America," Patricia shot back.

Eddie put a hand over his heart, putting on a mock hurt look. "Ouch. That hurt."

Patricia scoffed. "As much as I'd like to stand here exchanging stereotypes, I think I'll leave now. I'm starting to forget what it's like to be around _civilized _human beings," she spat, marching off down the corridor.

Eddie laughed out loud, rolling his eyes and heading off to the bathroom.

Without a word, Patricia entered the small dining room and plopped into her seat next to Joy, still scowling.

"What's wrong with you?" Alfie asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing," Patricia muttered, stuffing a roll in her mouth.

Amber cleared her throat, but Patricia continued to glare at the fancy tablecloth. She cleared her throat again. "Patricia."

"What?" She asked shortly.

Amber gestured to Nina, who sat awkwardly on the other side of her. "Patricia, this is our guest, Nina."

Patricia swallowed a piece of the roll and lifted an eyebrow. "When did you get here?" She demanded.

"Patricia..." Mara hissed under her breath.

"About five minutes ago," Nina replied, feeling extremely awkward. Patricia didn't seem very nice, not to mention the girl that was sitting next to her - either Joy or Mara - kept shooting glares at her, especially when Fabian was talking to her. _Weird..._

"Her brother Eddie is here, too, but he's using the loo right now," Amber explained.

Patricia scoffed. "Oh, don't worry. I met him. And speak of the devil..." Her voice trailed off and she glared at the blonde boy as he entered the room. He rolled his eyes, walking around the table and ignoring everyone's stares.

The only empty seat was next to Patricia. She scowled and crossed her arms in front of her chest, slumping down in her seat and groaning.

"Well, don't you just love how things turn out," Eddie grinned at the red-head, plopping into the empty seat next to her. "It's an _honor _to be in your presence again," he said sarcastically.

"Eddie, this is Patricia," Amber said slowly, obviously confused.

"Yeah, Yacker and I already met out in the hallway. Didn't we?"

Patricia raised her eyes from her plate and glared at Eddie. If looks could kill, the snarky blonde boy would be dead.

There was a long, awkward silence where everyone stared at Eddie, their eyes traveling to Patricia, and then back again. It didn't last very long, however, because Eddie immediately changed the subject. "Well, I never knew the girls in England were so gorgeous," he said flirtatiously, causing all the girls at the table to giggle - minus Nina, who groaned, and Patricia.

"Oh, come on, are you kidding me?" Patricia looked around the table, expecting at least _one _of her friends to realize how obnoxious this boy was, but everyone was just busy making big moon eyes at their new American neighbor. Patricia sighed loudly and slumped more in her seat.

"We should've moved to England a long time ago, Nina." Eddie continued, completely ignoring Patricia. Nina groaned louder, putting her face in her hands. The other girls didn't notice, their full attention now directed at Eddie. And who could blame them? He was very attractive. "Names?"

"Amber!"

"Joy."

"Mara."

The three girls chorused at once, smiling flirtatiously at Eddie.

"How lovely," Eddie said, flashing them award-winning smiles. All of the boys glanced at each other uncertainly, wondering if they should be worried about this new American. Alfie just glared at him. _No one _flirted with Amber other than him. Well, actually, lots of people did, but he didn't like it!

"Dinner is served!" Mrs. Campbell shouted and entered the room, carrying several large dinner platters and large pink apron. The other boys sighed in relief. Mrs. Campbell set the platters on the large table and everyone immediately dug in.

"So, how are you two liking the neighborhood?" Mick asked, his mouth covered in sauce.

Nina stifled a giggle, but was eager for a subject change. "It's really nice. I like it."

"Yeah," Eddie said, his mouth full of food. "It's awesome."

Nina looked at her twin brother distastefully. "Gross, Eddie."

Eddie grinned widely at Nina, showing food remnants in his mouth, causing Mara, Joy, and Amber to giggle. Nina just grimaced. Mick laughed, too. "I like him," he declared, reaching over the table and giving Eddie a high-five.

"I hope this isn't intrusive, or anything," Mara spoke up tentatively, clearing her throat. "And I've been wondering for a while...but are you two American?"

She said it mainly to Eddie, but Nina was the one who answered. "Yeah, we are, actually. We've been living in California."

"Why did you move?" Joy asked blatantly.

"Our Gran loves England, plus she wanted a change of scenery," Nina explained.

"Yeah. She's one of those kinds of people who doesn't like to stay in one place for very long," Eddie explained.

"You live with your grandmother?" Amber asked. Nina cringed, but nodded, worried about what would come next. "Why don't you live with your parents?"

Nina shifted in her seat, and Eddie's face immediately hardened. "Amber, you can't just ask-" Mick began.

"No." Nina murmured. Everyone looked at her. "It's okay." She turned to Amber. "Our parents died in a car crash. So we were sent to live with our Gran."

"Oh," Amber said softly. A heavy silence fell over the table as everyone stared at Nina and Eddie. It was so quiet, you could've heard a pin drop.

"That's terrible," Mara said softly, "I'm so sorry."

"Yeah, really," Amber agreed sincerely. "I shouldn't have brought it up."

Nina just shrugged. "It's fine. It was a long time ago."

Fabian cleared his throat. "So, is your Gran English, then?" He asked, changing the subject. Nina silently thanked him in her head.

"She lived in England for fifteen years...before we moved here, obviously." Eddie responded. "But she was born in America."

"So, how old are all of you? I mean, I'm assuming we're all around the same age," said Nina.

"Mick and Mara are both sixteen," Amber explained. "And I'm not sure about Jerome..." she glanced at the blonde.

"I'm sixteen," he said, shrugging.

"He and Fabian are cousins," Amber explained to Nina and Eddie. "So he doesn't live in the neighborhood, but he's visiting. Anyways, the rest of us are all fifteen. How old are you two?"

"Fifteen," Eddie said.

"Both of you?" Alfie asked.

"Yeah, we're twins," Nina explained.

"Oh!" Amber said, her eyebrows shooting up. "Really? That's exciting. I don't really know any twins, actually." She leaned forward. "Can you read each other's minds or something?"

Mick groaned, rolling his eyes, and Eddie snorted. Nina shot him a look, and then smiled at Amber. "Afraid we can't."

"Well, that's disappointing," Amber scoffed, sitting back in her chair.

The rest of the night went well for everyone. Patricia and Eddie didn't get into any more arguments, Jerome actually started talking, Joy glared at Nina less, and Nina and Fabian got along particularly well, much to both of their delight. It turned out that both of them were into Egyptian history and mythology, and Fabian offered to let her borrow one of the textbooks he had about it. At the end of the night, Nina had a huge grin on her face that she couldn't hide no matter how much she tried.

**x.X.x**

Nina was running...again. Once more, things like paintings, windows, and a suit of armor flashed in front of her eyes. Except this time, everything was more clear. She was running through a house, she was completely certain of that now. Except the house was completely unfamiliar to her and she still had no idea why she was running...except she heard faint counting in the background. _Well, that's weird._

Now, she was stopping. She was in the empty room except for the large thing at the back, but once again, she couldn't tell what it was. Only, she knew the color now - it was dark brown. Maybe it was some wooden object?

But before Nina could ponder about it more, the flashes of white came. Except now they were more defined, and now she felt...cold? It took her a while, but then she realized - it was snowing. She'd never seen snow before, at least not in real life. As soon as the realization hit her, she was awake again, sitting up in bed and panting.

"It was just a dream, it was just a dream," Nina told herself. "It doesn't mean anything."

But her breathing still didn't slow down.

It wasn't the dream that made her feel scared. No, the dream had been harmless.

The thing that scared her though, was that she'd dreamed almost exact thing last night, only this time, the dream had been more clear and more defined.

And that had only happened to her one other time in her entire life.

And that time, something terrible had happened.

**A/N: **Hope you liked chapter 2! I just _had _to throw in the endangered hedgehogs bit...that was one of my favorite scenes in season 1. I also By decided to have the ten Anubis kids live in Liverpool because that's where House of Anubis is filmed. Speaking of filming, I'm so excited for season 3! It started filming like last week and seeing all the cast's tweets just makes me really happy, although I'm sad that Nathalia isn't returning. I was actually starting to really like Nina.

By the way, what do y'all think about Nina leaving and the new characters? At first I hated the idea of having new characters, there's enough students at Anubis House as it is, but I think the idea has grown on me. I like Alex Shipp and Louisa Burnham seems really cool too. And I have a feeling I'm really going to like Willow. I'm not sure about KT, though, because she sounds a lot like Nina...which is really dumb. I guess I'll have to see, though.

Anyways, thanks for the reviews and favorites for last chapter and please review this one too! I like getting feedback! Thanks :)


	3. Evacuation

**Disclaimer: **I don't own House of Anubis or The Chronicles of Narnia.

**CHAPTER THREE:**

**Evacuation**

The next two months couldn't have gone any better. Nina and Eddie adjusted to the new neighborhood rather well - they even became used to the constant rain, something they hardly saw in Arizona and California. Although Nina found that Amber could be a bit much at first, they hit it off after a week or so. Now they were practically best friends, and Amber dragged Nina to go shopping downtown nearly every weekend.

Fabian and Nina got along great, as well. Often times they would sit on top of the fence that separated their houses and just talk - about their families, about everyone in the neighborhood, about Egyptian mythology, but mostly about themselves. Over the two month period, they'd really gotten to know each other. Amber, of course, thought they were the cutest thing she'd ever seen. Then again, Amber said that about lots of things.

The best part for Nina, though, was that she didn't have another dream like that again. Which of course, made her feel silly that she'd been so paranoid about it. Lots of people had the same dream. It'd only been a coincidence.

Eddie adjusted well, too. He and Mick got along pretty well, probably because they both had a love of sports and eating. Eddie and Mick spent most of their time together either in Mick or Eddie's backyard, playing some sort of game. Eventually, Eddie actually taught Mick the rules of American football. At first, Mick didn't like it, but it gradually grew on him and soon they were playing it nearly every day.

Patricia was still a little resentful towards Eddie, though. She wasn't one to let go of grudges very quickly, especially when it came to rude, arrogant boys. To put it honestly, Eddie could get under Patricia's skin in a way that no one else could. He always knew the proper thing to say or do that would absolutely infuriate her. At first, Patricia hated it, but after a while, it had sort of become a game. They would tease and pick on each other and argue back and forth, both of them trying to be as annoying to the other as possible. And, to be truthful, they both thought it was kind of fun. Boys had never given Patricia the same kind of attention they gave to Amber and Joy, and sometimes even Mara - usually because they were intimidated by her - but Eddie actually did. And she would never admit it, but she kind of liked it.

Patricia didn't really trust Nina, however. Sure, she was nice enough, but there was something off about her. She just couldn't put her finger on it.

Joy shared mutual feelings - she disliked Nina quite a lot. Mostly because Joy now fancied Fabian again, and it was quite obvious that Nina fancied him as well. Well, that just wouldn't do. Who did she think she was, waltzing into the neighborhood and hitting it off with Fabian like they'd known each other for ages? Fabian was _Joy's,_ and even if he wasn't paying as much attention to her at the moment (it was all Nina's fault, of course), he would come to his senses and realize that she and him would be far better together than he and the new American would ever be.

After the dinner, Jerome came out of the guest bedroom more and more. He even started to spend time with the other children when Fabian went to hang out with them, which made Mrs. Rutter ecstatic. In fact, Jerome and Alfie got along very well. Over time, they became two peas in a pod. It turned out that they both had a great sense of humor, and they both loved pulling pranks. Needless to say, everyone in the neighborhood got a little taste of the great Lewis and Clarke, the dynamic pranking duo.

Yeah, I guess you could say everything was fine and dandy.

That was until The Blitz.

Nazi Germany began the strategic bombing of Great Britain on September 7th, 1940. Hitler wanted to debilitate the British into surrender, or at least damage Britain's war economy eloquently. Every night, the Nazi's sailed over London and dropped bombs, damaging things like shops, schools, and even peoples' homes. Some were injured, and some people even died.

Every night, sirens wailed and lights shone in the sky. Fires sprung up and homes were destroyed. Nearly everyone in the neighborhood decided to have a bomb shelter installed in their backyards. A bomb shelter was a small shed. The door was kept above ground, so you could easily climb inside, but the actual shelter was merely a few feet below ground. Most people put blankets, cots, and board games in there, so that if the air raids went on for very long, their families wouldn't be bored.

No one in their neighborhood was hurt, but it still affected all of them. The local market had been damaged, and so had the bank. Amber's favorite store had been completely demolished, which she'd been extremely upset about.

But mostly, the ten children were frightened. They didn't like knowing that every night, there was a possibility that they or someone they knew could be killed or that their homes could be destroyed. Sometimes, they would go over to each others houses and spend the night because they were too scared to be alone.

The British government decided to evacuate children from major British cities. They were afraid that the children could be killed from the bombs, causing nearly a whole generation to be wiped out. The children were to be evacuated to the countryside, where it was safe - Germany was only dropping bombs on the major British cities, because that was where most of the war effort was going on.

The parents/guardians of the ten children in Liverpool were hesitant about the evacuation. They didn't like the idea of sending their children off to a strange place where they didn't know anyone. But, they all agreed this was the best option for the children.

Mr. Rutter found a place to send the children - to a man named Digory Kirke, who lived in the heart of the country, ten miles from the nearest railway station and two miles from the nearest post office. Digory was a professor of English and Egyptian mythology, and owned a very large estate called Anubis House, suitable for ten young children. Mr. Rutter had worked with him before, and he was a kind, logical man. Everyone agreed that this was the best thing for their children, and Mr. Rutter quickly sent a letter off to Professor Kirke.

The reply came a week later. Professor Kirke had been a little hesitant on having ten fifteen and sixteen-year-olds in his house, but he knew that Mr. Rutter was a good man, and had at last agreed on letting the children stay there to wait out the Blitz.

The next day, they told their children about the evacuation and that they would be leaving for the countryside in only a few days.

Nina cried when she found out about the evacuation. She didn't want to leave her Gran behind, but she knew she didn't have a choice, so she didn't refuse. Eddie, of course, didn't cry, but he was angry. He knew the British government was evacuating children, but he wasn't a child anymore! He was fifteen years old, and he could take care of himself. And how could he leave his Gran behind? What if something terrible happened to her? What if she was injured, or killed? She was all that he and Nina had - they had no other relatives. If something bad happened to her, then what would happen to them?

Fabian was upset when his parents told him about the evacuation, but he didn't cry on the spot. Probably because Jerome was sitting right next to him. It was slightly reassuring that he'd be staying at Anubis House with his friends, and that his father knew Professor Kirke, but he was still frightened about being sent to a strange, foreign place in the countryside with a man he'd never met before.

Jerome was indifferent to the evacuation. It wasn't like he would miss anything about Liverpool - this wasn't his real home, and Mr. and Mrs. Rutter weren't his parents. His _real _parents couldn't care less if he was stuck by a Nazi bomb right then and there. But Jerome wasn't afraid of the air raids. In fact, he thought they were cool. Every night, he would sneak out of bed and go to the bay window to watch the Nazi airplanes sail overhead and drop bombs onto the Earth. It was terrible, but the Blitz gave him a sense of adrenaline. It was the first interesting thing that had happened in boring old Liverpool, anyways.

Amber burst into tears as soon as the news had left her parents' mouths, not caring that her brother would make fun of her for it later. Blubbering, she refused to go, but of course, her parents wouldn't take no for an answer, causing her to throw a fit and lock herself in her room for the rest of the day. Mick was angry. He was sixteen-years-old, and definitely no longer a child. He could take care of himself, and he was old enough to stay behind and get a job to help his parents. But they refused, like he knew they would. They told him he had to go too, especially to take care of his younger sister. Fuming, Mick left the room in an angry huff as well, going up to his own room and slamming the door shut behind him.

The first thing Patricia did when her Mum told her the news was refuse to go - after all, it was in her nature. Which, of course, sent her and her mother into a long argument. There was a lot of screaming involved, and it ended with Patricia storming away and slamming the door to her room in an angry huff, glad to be able to fume by herself.

Alfie was shocked when his parents told him. He'd heard about the evacuation, but it hadn't occured to him that _he _would be evacuated. After all, he wasn't really a child, and he didn't see the point in being evacuated, anyways. In fact, Alfie sort of liked the Blitz. It was an adventure, and when he was running to the bomb shelter with his parents, he felt like he was a hero in an action cinema. Although, he supposed, being evacuated could be like an adventure, too, although it wouldn't be nearly as exciting. He'd just have to make the best of it, though. Which, fortunately, was something that Alfie was very good at.

Joy hated the Blitz with every fiber of her being, and although she would miss her parents and worry about their safety, she was glad to be getting away from it. She'd never been very close with her parents, anyways - especially not her father. He was a very quiet and secretive man, and liked to spend most of his time by himself - he never confided in her, or her mother, for that matter. And although Joy was a little apprehensive of going to stay at a strange old house with a man she'd never met before, she was glad that her friends would be with her. Besides, if Fabian was going, then she was definitely open to the idea.

Mara hated the Blitz, as well. It was chaotic, unorganized, and frightening, and it made Mara feel helpless. And she _hated _feeling like that. At least Anubis House would offer some sort of normalcy. She'd been starting to forget what that feeling felt like in the first place. And she was quite glad that she wouldn't be going alone, either.

And at different times and in different ways, all ten children agreed to go to the countryside to stay at Anubis House with Professor Kirke. It was for their own benefit, and besides. They didn't really have a choice.

**PATRICIA'S POV**

"Do I have to go?"

The day of evacuation had finally arrived. I stood with my Mum in the middle of a crowded railway station. All around me, people were crying and hugging other people, presumably their families. My friends were very close by, saying goodbye to their own parents. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Fabian crying, which made me snort. He could be such a pansy.

"Yes, Trixie, you have to go," said my Mum, sighing. I looked up at her, my eyes widening in surprise. She hadn't called me 'Trixie' in about five years. She reached out to adjust my coat, and I sighed, rolling my eyes. She'd adjusted it about a million times already - it wasn't going to get any better than this. Although I knew she was only doing it because she was stressed, it was still annoying.

My mum and I weren't very close. I suppose we used to be, when I was younger. But that was before my "rebellious stage," as she liked to call it. I glanced away from her, and noticed a line of young men marching through the railway station, all decked out in military uniforms. I swallowed, and glanced at my mother, who was staring at them too, her eyes beginning to shine with tears.

Finally, I said what I'd been wanting to say for days. "If Dad were here, he wouldn't make me go."

Just like that, my Mum snapped her eyes back to me, her mouth pressed into a straight line, showing no signs of the tears that had been welling in her eyes only a second before. "If Dad were here, that would mean that the war was over. Then you wouldn't have to go," she said shortly.

I huffed as I looked down at my scuffed shoes, my arms crossing in front of my chest. My dad had left to go fight in the war about two years ago. And I missed him. A lot. We wrote, sometimes, but it just wasn't the same. He understood me far better than my mum did, and I understood him. We'd had a real bond.

That was until he left.

Mum sighed, running a hand through her dark red hair that was identical to mine. "Look, Patricia. I know it's been hard, not having your dad around." Sometimes, I think she can read my mind. "But I don't think you're being fair to me. Can you not see how hard I've been trying?"

"I know you have, Mum." I said, sighing.

"And I know it's not the same without him around and you miss him and that he should be here, but-"

"But he had better things to do," I finished shortly. "Fighting in the war is more important than us. I know, I get it."

"Patricia!" Mum cried. "You know that's not true!" I muttered something that she hopefully didn't hear, looking away from her. "Look at me," she said, raising my chin so that my eyes met hers. "Your father loves you, and so do I."

"I know," I replied, sighing.

"And the only reason I'm sending you away is because I don't want you to get hurt. You know that, right?"

"Yes, I know, Mum."

"And if I had it my way, I would drop kick those Germans out of the sky so I could have you at home with me. And your father, too."

I couldn't help but crack a smirk. "Yeah, I know."

"Uh-huh, I knew I could manage a smile out of you," Mum said triumphantly, grinning at me. I rolled my eyes and she wrapped her arms around me, pulling me in for a tight hug. I buried my face in her black cardigan and couldn't help but inhale the smell of her jasmine-scented perfume. After all, it was most likely the last time I'd smell it for a while, and I wanted it to last. "Just be careful, okay?" Mum said into my hair.

I felt my eyes sting with tears and I immediately blinked them back. _Don't cry, Patricia. Whatever you do, don't cry. You promised yourself you wouldn't, remember? _"I will."

"You promise?"

"I promise."

We broke the hug, and Mum grinned at me. I managed a wobbly smile back. "You know, you don't always have to be strong all the time," she reminded me. "It's okay to cry now and then."

I scoffed, rolling my eyes. "You're one to talk," I pointed out, my eyes watering slightly, but my voice was nearly drowned out by the noise of the train whistle. _Oh, right. I forgot for a minute that I was still in a railway station._

"Well, I guess you should head off, then," Mum said, sighing and handing me my train ticket. "Don't want you to be late, do we?" She gave me a quick hug. "I love you."

"Love you too," I replied, my voice slightly wobbly. _Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry._

"And don't get into trouble," she warned, pointing a finger at me.

I smirked. "No promises." My voice then became softer. "Bye, Mum," I said, waving.

Mum sniffled. "Bye, Trixie," she said, waving back.

I gave her one last long look, before taking a deep breath and turning around. I rolled my eyes upwards, blinking away the few tears that had collected in my eyes, and marched forwards.

The walk towards the train was a blur. All I remember is being shoved into multiple times and handing off my ticket. Then, within a few seconds, I was standing in the middle corridor of the train with all my friends around me. Mick was counting to make sure everyone was here. Why they put him with that job, I'm not sure - we all knew that Mick wasn't the smartest boy around. I guess everyone was a bit out of their mind that day. "Alright, it looks like everyone is here, so I guess we should find a compartment to sit in."

We made our way up the corridor, stopping and peering in compartment windows. Most of them were full, and if they weren't, there were only a few empty seats in them. After all, most of Liverpool was evacuating their children. Finally, we decided we'd have to split up. Nina and Fabian grabbed a compartment together, which I knew Joy was probably silently fuming about, and so did Mara and Amber. Jerome, Alfie, Joy, and Mick managed to all fit into one compartment, and as they did, Joy sent me a pleading look. "Help me," she mouthed. I snickered.

Eddie and I sat in the next compartment we could find. "Well, looks like it's just you and me, Yacker." He said, smirking at me.

I let out a long sigh. This was going to be a long ride.

**NO ONE'S POV**

"We have now reached Coombe Halt platform," the voice-over on the intercom announced in a clear, crisp voice. Mick took a deep breath. This was their stop. He looked across the compartment at Jerome and Alfie, who had stopped talking and were unusually still. _Well, this is a first. Maybe I should write this moment down... _Alfie looked very nervous, while Jerome was trying his best not to look as scared as he felt.

Mick looked down. Joy was leaning on his shoulder, fast asleep. Nearly as soon as they had reached the compartment, she'd been out like a light, despite Jerome and Alfie incessant chatter. In fact, he could've sworn he'd heard her snore a few times. He nudged her. "Hey, earth to Mercer!"

Joy blinked and sat up. Once she realized she'd been sleeping on him, she blushed. "Are we there yet?"

"Yep," Alfie said. The four of them exchanged nervous glances, and then stood up, sliding open the compartment door. Nina, Fabian, Patricia, and Eddie were already out, making their way down the corridor.

"How was it?" Patricia asked Joy, raising an eyebrow.

Joy shrugged. "Not bad. I was asleep most of the way."

Mick snorted. "Most? Try the whole ride! As soon as she sat down, she was out like a light."

"Well, at least you got to sleep," Patricia said, rolling her eyes. "Eddie wouldn't stop bothering me."

Joy lifted an eyebrow, amused. "You rode with Eddie?"

"Yeah," Patricia said hesitantly. Joy smirked. "What?"

"Oh, nothing. Nothing at all," Joy said, grinning at her best friend.

Patricia just rolled her eyes.

In a few minutes, the ten children were standing on the empty platform as the train pulled away, staring at the sign that read 'COOMBE HALT' in large white letters. They heard a honk and immediately climbed down the platform and onto the road. A small car was coming up to the platform. "Well that was quick," Mara said aloud. Fabian raised his hand to wave, but the car passed them by. He sighed and lowered his hand. "Or not..." Mara's voice trailed off.

"The professor knew we were coming, right?" Nina asked.

"Perhaps we've been incorrectly labeled," Jerome suggested, examining the tag on his coat.

"Of course we weren't," Fabian assured them. "My dad sent the Professor a letter. He should be here soon." Still, he sounded a little uncertain.

"I knew we shouldn't have come," Amber declared. "Sibuna House? The name practically screams 'creepy.'"

Mick rolled his eyes. "Amber, it's called _Anubis _House."

"So? It still sounds creepy," said Amber.

"Anubis is the Egyptian god of death, Amber," Mara explained.

"Actually, Anubis is the god of funerals," Fabian and Nina said in unison. They turned to each other, surprised, then smiled shyly at each other.

"Aw, so sweet I'm going to get a cavity," Patricia said sarcastically, causing Fabian and Nina's faces to burn red.

"He's the god of _funerals_?" Amber demanded. "Ew! Why would anyone name their house after _that?_"

Before anyone could offer up an answer, they heard the clopping of horse-hooves coming down the dirt road. The ten children turned to see a woman driving a horse-drawn carriage. She had cropped, short blonde hair styled into a bob with bangs, and squinty blue eyes. "Whoa, whoa," she said, as she pulled the reigns and the carriage came gently to a stop.

"Are- are you the housekeeper?" Mara asked tentatively, peering up at the woman.

"I have a name, you know," the woman said shortly. Mara blushed and looked down at her feet, embarrassed. "Yes, I am one of the housekeepers. My name is Vera Devenish, but you may refer to me as Vera." She surveyed the children, giving Patricia and her ripped panty-hose and disdainful look. "Well, there's quite a lot of you, isn't there?" The children glanced at each other, but didn't answer for fear of being shot down like Mara was. "Oh, come on, I don't bite. Well, is this it, then? Haven't you brought anything else?" Obviously, she had overlooked Amber's large pile of suitcases.

"No ma'am," Mick spoke up. "It's just us."

Vera lifted an eyebrow. "Small favours." She tilted her head towards the back of the carriage. "Come along, then."

The teenagers piled into the back of the carriage along with their bags, and Vera steered the horses around as they began to travel across the dirt road towards the professor's mansion. It was quiet, until Amber let out a loud "Oooooh!" Everyone turned and gasped as the professor's mansion came into view, looming over them.

After Vera had parked the carriage and put the horses back in the barn, the group began to walk along the cobblestone pathway that led to the entry hall of the house. "Anubis House is very old, and is very famous in these parts," Vera explained, leading the group. "In fact, about every week, our caretaker leads a tour group around here. When this occurs, I expect every single one of you to be completely out of sight. I don't care where you go, but if I catch word that you were disrupting our guests, there will be tremendous consequences." She paused and turned around, narrowing her eyes at the children. "Is that understood?"

The ten children gulped and nodded vigorously. Vera gave them a fake smile and patted the nearest person on the head (who happened to be Joy) like she was a dog. "Good. Now, let's go inside, shall we?" She said as she led the group inside Anubis House, which was even more impressive than the outside. The children stood in the entry room, looking around in pure awe.

"As I mentioned before, I'm one of the housekeepers at Anubis House. There is only one other, and her name is Trudy Rehmann. There is also a caretaker, Victor Rodenmaar, but you won't be seeing him very often," Vera explained. "Speaking of him, by the way, the curfew is ten o'clock. Everyone must be in their rooms with the lights out by then. Victor is very, very strict about that." She said sternly. "Anyways, other than us, and the cooks, and of course the professor, this house stays empty. So you must understand when I say that the professor is not accustomed to having children in his house. And as such there are a few rules you need to follow."

She stopped abruptly, causing Alfie and Jerome to nearly run into her. "There will be no shouting." She said strictly, turning around and glaring sternly at the others. "Or running." She added as she turned back around. Alfie and Jerome exchanged a glance and snickered.

The group began to move up the stairs, and Vera continued, "No improper use of the dumb waiter...NO!" she shouted suddenly, whipping around abruptly and causing Amber to scream. Her eyes focused on Mara, who had frozen, her hand inches away from a marble statue. "Touching of the historical artifacts!" Mara lowered her head sheepishly for the second time that day. Jerome, Alfie, and Eddie snickered and she shot them an annoyed look.

"And above all," said Vera, suddenly looking extremely serious. "There will be no disturbing of the professor."

The children all glanced at each other questioningly and continued their tour around the house. They turned up a corridor, Nina last in line. Suddenly she stopped as she heard footsteps coming from the room beside her. She peered underneath the door. The light shining out from the crack between the floor and the bottom of the door was abruptly covered by a shadow from inside the room. Someone, most likely Professor Kirke, was in there.Jumping a foot in the air, Nina immediately sprinted off in the direction the group had gone, crashing into Fabian and nearly toppling him over.

"Are you alright?" Fabian asked, steadying her.

"Yeah, fine," Nina lied, panting.

"Okay..." Fabian said, giving her a doubtful look.

Suddenly it occurred to Nina that Fabian was still holding onto her, and she blushed. "Uh, Fabian? Do you mind if you let go of me now?"

Fabian turned the color of the tapestry hanging above their heads. "Oh, r-right, yeah..." He stammered. "Sorry," he said, letting go of her embarrassingly.

**x.X.x**

After the tour was finally over, Vera sent the children to their rooms to unpack. Nina and Amber shared a room, and so did Joy and Patricia. Since they were cousins, Jerome and Fabian shared a room, and so did Alfie and Mick. Eddie and Mara had rooms by themselves.

By the time they were finished packing, the sun was beginning to set, and the sky was growing dark. They were in their rooms, just talking, when the bell rang for dinner. Everyone immediately jumped up and rushed to the kitchen, where a squat, kind looking woman with raven-black hair stood, grinning. "Hello, and welcome to the Kirke's household," she said. "I'm Trudy, one of the housekeepers, and if you've got any problems, feel free to tell me. I want you to feel as at home here as possible." She grinned broadly.

"I like her better than the other lady," Alfie hissed to Jerome, who nodded in agreement.

"Alright, without further ado, I present our dinner!" She rung the bell again, and the cooks immediately entered the room, carrying large, steaming platters of the most delicious looking food any of them had ever seen. And there were mountains of it, too. At last, all the food was at the table and Trudy told them to sit down, which they happily did. Everyone immediately began to pile food on their plates, and once the food was cool enough, they dug in.

It was possibly the best dinner any of them had ever had.

For a while, it was absolutely silent. And you know food is good when everyone is too busy eating it that they can't even talk. But, after a while, chatter broke out among them. Amber, Nina, and Fabian began talking about how much they already missed home, while Mick and Eddie talked of sports and how good the food tasted. Mara, Joy, and Patricia, who were at the left end of the table, began telling jokes and laughing, while Jerome and Alfie, who were at the right end of the table, began to talk, too.

"So, mate, who have you been keeping your eyes on?" Alfie asked Jerome.

"Huh?" Jerome asked, not looking up as he stuffed a spoonful of mashed potatoes into his mouth.

"You know, which girl do you fancy the most?" Alfie asked.

"I've only been here for about two months, Alfie," Jerome reminded his friend.

"I know, I'm just saying, who do you think is the prettiest?" Alfie wasn't really interested in Jerome's opinion - he was just making sure he didn't fancy Amber.

Jerome swallowed some mashed potatoes. "Well, it's hard to say." Still, he couldn't help letting his eyes roam down to the end of the table.

Unfortunately, Alfie noticed. "_Mara?_"

"Mara, are you kidding?" Jerome asked incredulously. "No! No way, she's like, the Ice Queen! Icy queen of ice!"

Alfie laughed out loud. "Oh, right, yeah. I was about to say! I mean, don't get me wrong. Mara's really sweet and stuff. But you're right...she's an Ice Queen, mate." Jerome laughed this time. "Plus, she's got a massive crush on Mick, although I don't think she realizes that everyone knows about it. Anyways," Alfie stretched back, grinning. "I think Amber beats everyone out, by far."

Jerome smirked. "Yeah, I figured you were going to say that."

Alfie's eyes widened and he sat up. "What? Why?"

Jerome shrugged. "Nothing, I just had a feeling you fancied her."

"Is it that obvious?" Alfie cried, panicked.

Jerome laughed. "A bit, yeah. But Alf, don't worry about it. In case you haven't noticed, Amber's a bit dense. She doesn't suspect anything." He assured his friend. _At least, not yet._

Alfie let out a sigh of relief. "Good." Then he glared at Jerome. "And hey! She's not dense!"

Jerome just chuckled and shook his head, buttering a roll and then stuffing it into his mouth. When he made sure that Alfie wasn't looking, he snuck another quick glance at Mara at the other end of the table.

Yeah, he had lied to Alfie. So what?

He wasn't sure why, but ever since he'd run into Mara that day in the neighborhood, he hadn't been able to take his eyes off her. Which was just the type of sentence that Jerome swore he would never say, but there it was. It wasn't like the other girls weren't pretty - they were. In fact, Jerome thought he'd struck a bit of luck in getting to live with five pretty girls for who knows how long.

But, Mara was different. She was beautiful, but she didn't flaunt it like Amber did...in fact, it seemed like she wasn't even aware of how pretty she really was. And for some reason, Jerome liked that. Not to mention she was kind, and incredibly clever. And he didn't know why, but everything she did - even when it was really embarrassing or awkward - was always...well, cute.

Suddenly, Mara turned around, as if she realized someone was staring at her. Her eyes focused on him and he quickly darted his eyes away, turning back to Alfie and acting like he was having a conversation with him. He hadn't even really realized that he'd been staring at Mara. He felt his face begin to heat up. _Stupid, stupid, stupid, _he thought to himself.

She was a bit of an "ice queen", though. And it's not like she would ever fancy someone like Jerome - he was clever, but he could care less about school, he scammed people for fun, and he was a rule-breaker. Mara, on the other hand, was none of these things. And anyways, it seemed like she only had eyes for Mick.

Well, Jerome would just have to change her mind.

After dinner, the cooks brought in a large plate of steaming hot apple pie and served everyone a piece, along with a small glass of milk. After getting seconds of the delicious pie, everyone was without a doubt, stuffed. Letting out a contented sigh, the ten teenagers leaned back in their chairs, fat and happy.

"I don't think I'll be able to eat anything again," Patricia moaned.

"Same here," Fabian agreed.

"Yeah," Alfie said. "_IIII'mmm fuuuullll,_" he said in a long burp. Everyone burst out laughing, and even Amber, who tried her best to look disgusted, was smiling.

"You know what I think?" Amber said, sitting straight up. "I think this is going to be fun." Everyone looked at each other doubtfully. "Think about it! This could be, like...a holiday of some sorts."

"I don't know..." Nina said uncertainly. "Most vacations I've been on don't happen while there's a war going on."

"Not to mention our families could be in danger," Eddie pointed out.

"Oh, don't talk about it," Mara said, chewing her bottom lip.

"Mara's right," Amber agreed. "Maybe if we try not to think about that...we could have some fun!" Amber said cheerily.

Mick shrugged. "I hate to admit it, but Amber's got a point. Did you see that huge yard out there?" Everyone nodded. "Think of all the games we could play. I'm sure the professor's got a football around here somewhere. Although, probably not the American kind," he added, glancing at Eddie.

"And, I think we might've passed a little pool on the way up here with a river running through it," Joy piped up. "I'm sure it's nice and refreshing; we could go down there and take a dip."

"And, there are loads of horses in the barn out there," Mara reminded them. "And I'm sure there's a trail around here somewhere. We could go riding, if we wanted. Of course, we'd need permission first..." Her voice trailed off.

"And anyways, even if we couldn't go riding, we could always walk down the trail. I'm sure there's tons of stuff to see down there," Fabian suggested.

"And besides, this house is huge," Alfie said, stretching his arms out wide. "It would probably take all day to explore it."

"And, they've got a huge library, I'd reckon," Fabian said.

Eddie rolled his eyes. "Booooring." He said under his breath. Nina shot him a look, and he shrugged.

"You know what?" Jerome said, leaning back and putting his hands behind his head. "I bet we could do anything we wanted here." Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Yeah! Tomorrow's going to be great!" Amber said excitedly.

**A/N: **That's all for chapter three! Thanks for reading! Next chapter is going to be pretty long, but it's also going to be good...that's when we first go to Narnia. Please review and tell me what you thought! Thanks! :)


	4. The Wardrobe

**Disclaimer: I don't own Narnia or House of Anubis.**

**CHAPTER FOUR:**

**The Wardrobe**

"Of course it would be raining!"

Amber sat on a purple armchair, staring gloomily out the window. It wasn't just raining, it was pouring. You could hardly see the front lawn because of all the rain and fog. Nina sighed and went to join Amber by the window sill. Amber looked up at her, surprised. "When did you wake up?"

"Only a few minutes ago," Nina said, yawning. "Don't get discouraged, Amber. There are plenty of things to do inside."

"Not any _fun _things," she insisted. "But anyways, I'm glad you're up. I think breakfast is ready." She stood up and went over to the vanity mirror, checking her reflection. She was already dressed, and from the smell of it, Nina figured she'd already put on perfume, as well.

"Really? What time is it?" Nina asked.

"As if I know," said Amber as she ran a brush through her long blonde hair. Nina went over to her bed, stuffing her feet into slippers. Amber whirled around. "_Please_ tell me you're not going down to breakfast in your nightie!"

"Um, well, I was planning on it..." Nina replied hesitantly.

Amber gasped. "Are you mad? You look like a wreck!" Amber quickly tossed her brush over to Nina, which was completely out of character for her - Amber rarely shared her brush with anyone.

"Thanks, Amber," Nina said dryly. "I can always count on you to boost my self confidence." _At least she's not gloomy anymore, _she thought.

"I'm only helping you!" Amber smiled sweetly at her roommate. "Besides, you can't impress Fabian when you look like _that_."

Nina's heart hammered in her chest. "I swear, Amber, I don't know what you're talking about. We're just friends!"

"Please, Nina, I'm not stupid. Especially not when it comes to love," she teased as Nina blushed fire engine red. "I saw your little _moment _in the corridor yesterday during the tour. And besides, you wouldn't stop staring at each other during dinner last night! It was _extremely awkward _for me, you know."

"That was an accident," Nina insisted, pulling a blouse out of her drawer. "And we were _not _staring at each other!"

Amber just shook her head, smiling. "Whatever you say, Neens."

**x.X.x**

"So much for cricket, then," sighed Mick, staring gloomily out the window.

The rest of the teenagers sat around the dining table, eating their breakfast in gloomy silence and staring at the rain, which pitter-pattered against the glass window.

"It's not the end of the world, you know," Amber piped up, looking at everyone as if they were insane. Nina raised her eyebrows. Amber had certainly been singing a different tune that morning. "And anyways, cricket isn't even very fun."

Mick shot a glare at his little sister, and Fabian helpfully whispered to her, "Amber, I don't think you're helping."

"Oops. Sorry," Amber blushed sheepishly.

There was a stretch of silence.

"Well, you know, there are plenty of things to do inside," Nina pointed out helpfully.

"Like what?" Eddie grumbled, obviously disappointed.

Nina chewed her bottom lip. "We could play a game," she suggested, glancing at the others around the table.

"How old are we, ten?" Jerome demanded, rolling his eyes.

"No one said _you _had to play," Amber snapped, quick to defend her friend. Nina smiled at her thankfully.

"What kind of game?" Joy asked dubiously.

"We could play a dictionary quiz," Mara suggested. Fabian opened his mouth to agree, until everyone groaned. He ducked his head, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "Or not, then..." Mara sighed.

Everyone was quiet for a moment, thinking. "We could play hide and seek?" Nina suggested.

"Hide and seek is a kid's game," Jerome grumbled.

Amber brightened, ignoring him. "Excellent idea, Neens! Who's in?" She raised her hand, glancing around the table. Mara, Nina, Fabian, Alfie, Mick, and Joy all raised their hands, while Jerome, Eddie, and Patricia slumped in their seats, rolling their eyes. "Majority wins," Amber declared, grinning.

Jerome groaned.

The group headed downstairs to the parlor. After playing "nose-goes", they ultimately decided that Mick would be the counter, much to his disliking. Sighing, Mick plopped onto the sofa and covered his eyes with his hands. "1, 2, 3..."

Everyone quickly scrambled out of the room, nearly knocking each other down in the process. Amber found the first spot she could find, under a table. Alfie slid himself underneath a bed, but not before setting up pillows and throwing a blanket over it to make it look like someone was hiding on top of the bed.

"17, 18, 19..."

Joy lowered herself into a chest, and Fabian hid behind a door.

"24, 25, 26..."

Mara hid inside a small spare room, and Jerome followed suit.

"33, 34, 35..."

Patricia and Eddie both raced towards a curtain at the same time, and immediately began arguing on who was there first.

"38, 39, 40..."

Nina ran frantically, trying to find a hiding spot. Everywhere she turned, someone else was already hiding there, and almost every door was locked.

"44, 45, 46..."

She stomped up a flight of steps and turned into a corridor, pulling on the first door. It was locked.

"49, 50, 51..."

Frantically, she pulled on the next door and it swung open. Sighing in relief, she burst into the room, and abruptly stopped. The room was completely empty, except for a large object at the back that was covered in a white tarp.

"55, 56, 57..."

Nina approached the object and tore down the tarp with a mighty yank. It billowed and sank slowly to the floor, revealing a large, mahogany wardrobe. Nina grinned. _Perfect._

It was odd, though, that the wardrobe was kept in a separate room, all by itself. But it wasn't exactly an ordinary wardrobe that you would put in a bedroom, either. It was huge, and had many intricate carvings on it, that looked like they almost told a story...

"64, 65, 66..."

Almost having completely forgotten about the game, she quickly yanked the wardrobe door open. Two moth balls fell out and rolled to the floor, and with one last look behind her, she jumped inside the wardrobe and cracked it shut...because after all, it's very foolish to shut oneself in a wardrobe.

"70, 71, 72..."

Nina slowly moved backwards, feeling the soft, fur coats as she did so. Eddie always called her weird, but Nina had always loved climbing inside wardrobes. She loved the feeling of the fur coats against her hands and the smell of mothballs.

"79, 80, 81..."

Nina continued to back up, confused. Shouldn't she have reached the back by now? And she was feeling some weird crunching beneath her feet. _More mothballs? _She wondered.

"84, 85, 86..."

Suddenly Nina felt something jabbing into her back, and she turned around. It was a pine tree branch. Nina's eyebrows raised. What on earth was a pine tree branch doing in a wardrobe? She glanced down at the ground, expecting to see wood, but all she could see was crunchy white stuff.

"88, 89, 90..."

Slowly, she moved back the row of coats in front of her...and gasped.

She wasn't in the wardrobe anymore.

Instead, she was surrounded by a huge forest.

Nina simply stared at her surroundings, her mouth hanging open. "No way," she whispered to herself.

_I must be dreaming. _She closed her eyes and pinched herself, hard. Slowly, she cracked her eyes open.

Nope. She wasn't dreaming.

Hesitantly, Nina stepped forward, out of the rack of coats and into the bright sunlight. Snow covered the ground and snowflakes were gently falling, settling on her shoulders and eyelashes. Nina blinked and looked up towards the sky, walking forwards slowly. The bright sun was partially shielded by a canopy of snow covered evergreen trees.

She whirled around. Sure enough, there was the wardrobe...although from this point it looked more like a random rack of coats hanging in the middle of some trees. And if she was quiet enough, she could still hear Mick's steady counting. She turned around, laughing and stumbling forwards. She'd never seen snow in real life before, but it was wonderful. Everywhere she looked, all she could see was white. Little white things flashed in front of her-

Suddenly Nina stopped. For a second, the strangest sense of deja vu fell over her, like she'd seen this before, like she'd been here before.

Then, she remembered.

The running.

The counting.

The empty room with something at the back of it.

The snow.

Nina stumbled backwards, realization hitting her on full force.

The dream was happening.

She should've known this would happen. It'd been so foolish of her to just pass it off as a coincidence. And she should've picked up earlier on how familiar this had felt. _You should've known! _She scolded herself, tears beginning to sting in her eyes.

Nina had only had a dream come true one time in her entire life.

And when it did, her parents had died.

It'd been sort of like the dreams she'd had the first few nights after she'd moved to Liverpool. The first dream had been a big blur - she'd seen her parents, a flash of light, a loud bang, and then she and her brother, sitting in their living room, a stranger talking to them.

The next night, it'd been the same dream, only much clearer. Her parents were driving a car. Then there was the flash of light - headlights - and a loud bang. Then she and Eddie were sitting in her living room, the stranger talking to them. Only this time, she could tell that the stranger was wearing a police uniform.

It hadn't made any sense to her until the next afternoon, when a police officer knocked on her door, sat her and Eddie down in the living room, and told her that her parents had died in a car accident.

She'd never told anybody about it. How could she possibly tell someone that she'd _predicted _her own parents death through a dream? No, she'd kept it to herself for all these years. In truth, she'd almost forgotten about it.

Until now.

Suddenly, Nina's knees began to wobble and she felt scared. What if something was wrong with her? Did these kind of things happen to normal people? "I need to go back..." she whispered to herself. She turned to look back at the opening to the spare room. Mick was still counting.

She looked forwards again, at the bright, wonderful snow falling around her. She'd just walked into a wardrobe, and had come out into a magical world instead. This wasn't something that happened everyday. Was she going to go back just because of a dream?

_But something terrible happened the last time one of my dreams predicted the future, _Nina reminded herself.

_Yes, but that's only because something terrible happened in the dream, _she argued. _This dream was harmless, remember?_

_Am I really arguing with myself?_

_Yes, you are._

Nina sighed, looking at her surroundings. She stood there for a good five minutes, debating on whether to go back or to move forwards. It wouldn't hurt to explore for a little while would it? It'd be simply foolish not to. After all, these things didn't just happen. She'd only stay for a few more minutes, and then she'd go right back.

At least, that's what she said to make herself feel better as she walked forwards through the snow, drinking in every single detail as she walked through the thicket of trees. Finally, she reached a small clearing with a glowing lamppost standing in the middle.

Nina stared at it curiously. "What is a lamppost doing in the middle of a forest?" She wondered aloud. Slowly, she approached it, placing a hand against the cold metal.

Suddenly, she heard another set of feet padding against the ground and tightly clung onto the lamppost, frightened. It hadn't occurred to her that maybe other people lived in this forest, too. _You should've gone back while you still could, Nina. _She was about to run and find a place to hide when a man came into view, carrying a bunch of parcels.

Except for it wasn't really a man. He was a man from the top up, but from the bottom, he had...goat legs.

The man/goat thing looked up, saw her, and screamed, dropping all his parcels. Nina screamed too and hid behind the lamppost, desperately clinging onto it. The man/goat thing quickly ducked behind a tall tree. _Well, at least I know he's as scared of me as I am of him._

Nina stood there for a while, breathing heavily, her arms wrapped around the lamppost like it was a life raft and she'd been tossed overboard into the ocean. After her breathing had returned to a slightly normal rate, she peeked her head around the lamppost. The man/goat thing was still hiding behind the tree, although she could see him pretty well - his back was turned away from her, and his parcels were scattered all over the ground.

Taking a deep breath, Nina hesitantly came out from behind the lamppost. And then slowly, oh so slowly, she began to quietly pick up the parcels, loading them into her arms. The man/goat thing peered at her curiously, and hesitantly came out from behind the tree. Gently, Nina handed him the three parcels she'd picked up, and he bent down and grabbed the last remaining one. "Er - uh, well...thanks," the man/goat thing stuttered out.

"No problem," Nina replied softly. Realizing she was staring at his hooves, her eyes quickly snapped up to his face. He was a little taller than her, with brown, curly hair and two horns sticking out of his head. He didn't wear a shirt, which Nina thought was a little odd, especially because of how cold it was, although he did wear a little red scarf. Nina squinted at the glow emerging from him - baby blue, light pink, and some sort of dark color stood out the most. Baby blue meant kindness, of course, light pink meant embarrassment or flustered, and the dark color...well, she wasn't really sure what that meant. After all, she'd only had fifteen years of practice with this thing. "If you don't mind my asking...what are you?" Nina asked curiously after she was done taking in his appearance.

He lifted an eyebrow, as if that was a silly question to ask. "Well, I'm a faun," he replied. _I guess I'm going to have to stop calling him a man/goat thing. _"And what about you? You're not nearly short enough to be a dwarf...and you don't have a beard, either."

Nina's eyebrows shot up. _A dwarf? _"I'm not a dwarf! I'm a girl."

The faun's eyes widened in shock. "What?"

"Have I said something wrong...?"

"No, no, no," the faun shook his head vigorously. "But, do you mean to say...that you're a Daughter of Eve?"

Nina's eyebrows shot up. "A what_?_"

The faun shook his head again. "Forgive me, forgive me...but you are, in fact, what they call...a human?"

Nina looked at him curiously. From the way he was acting, you would've thought that being a human was something special or important. "Yes, of course I am." The faun stared at her. "I mean, what else would I be?"

The faun broke into a smile. "How in Aslan's name did you get here? You have such a different accent, as well...you must be from Archenland."

Nina giggled slightly, shaking her head. "No, not at all! I'm American. And it's kind of a funny story as to how I got here...I mean, I was just playing hide and seek, so I hid in the wardrobe in the spare room. Then I came out here."

"What strange places you name of!" The faun said. "If only I'd worked harder at geography when I was younger, then I might would know what you're talking about...are any of these strange cities in Narnia?"

"Narnia?" Nina asked, perplexed. "What's that?"

"Well, you're _in _it," the faun explained, chuckling. Nina raised her eyebrows. "Everything from that lamppost," He pointed at it with his white umbrella, and then pointed it somewhere far off in the distance. "All the way to castle Cair Paravel on the Eastern Ocean is Narnia."

Nina stood, open-mouthed as she stared at the vast amount of mountains and hills that stretched on for miles, and miles. In fact, it seemed that the view of the rest of Narnia never ended. "Wow. This is an awfully big wardrobe..." She whispered to herself.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I've been rather rude, haven't I?" Nina tore her gaze away from the view and back to the faun. "Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Tumnus."

Nina smiled. "It's quite alright, Mr. Tumnus, I'm very pleased to meet you as well. I'm Nina Martin." She stuck out her hand. The faun stared at her, and then back at the hand, looking awfully confused. "Oh, you shake it," Nina explained.

Mr. Tumnus lifted an eyebrow. "Why?"

Nina's eyebrows knitted together in sudden confusion. "I don't know..." Mr. Tumnus laughed. "People just do it when they meet each other."

Mr. Tumnus shrugged and grabbed her hand gently, and begun to shake his arm. Nina giggled. She was going to point out that that's not really how you're supposed to shake hands, but the sight of him shaking his arm was too funny that she didn't want to. Nina began to swing her arm back and forth and the two of them stood there, holding their arms out with their hands connected and swinging them back and forth like idiots, laughing.

Finally, they stopped. "Well then, Nina Martin, from the _shining _city of War Drobe, in the _wondrous _land of the Spare Oom which resides in the great country of Merica," Nina giggled at his pronunciation errors and Mr. Tumnus opened his umbrella, holding it above his head. "How would it be if you came and had tea with me?"

Nina's face fell. "Oh." Mr. Tumnus lifted an eyebrow, confused. "I mean, I'd love to, but...I really need to be getting back." She turned to search for the direction that she came from.

"It'd be only just for a little while," Mr. Tumnus said almost desperately, and Nina turned back to him. "And there will be a _glorious _fire, and I could tell you wonderful stories...and we could have toast, and tea, and cakes." Nina looked doubtful. "And perhaps, I could even break out the sardines." He waggled his eyebrows, hopeful.

"I don't know..." Nina sighed.

"Oh, come on," Mr. Tumnus pleaded. "After all, it's not everyday that I get to meet a new friend."

Nina sighed again and beamed up at him. "Well, when you put it that way...I guess it wouldn't hurt to stay for a little while. That is if you have sardines." She added with a grin.

Mr. Tumnus grinned at her and they linked arms, him holding the umbrella over both of their heads. "By the bucket load," he assured her.

And so they were off, giggling and winding through pathways in between the forest, snow gently falling on their umbrella. It wasn't too long of a walk, and before they knew it, they were approaching a large boulder. Nina expected Mr. Tumnus to turn away from it, but instead they were walking straight towards it. For a moment, Nina was scared that they were going to run into it, until she noticed a wooden door. It wasn't a boulder at all...it was a cave.

The two of them entered the cave, wiping off their feet. Mr. Tumnus immediately went to work setting up their meal, while Nina wandered around the cave, inspecting his items. They had titles like _Is Man a Myth? _or _Nymphs and their Ways. Weird, _Nina thought. She moved away from the bookcase and over to a table with a picture of an older looking faun.

"Now that," said Mr. Tumnus, and Nina looked up. "That is my father."

Nina looked back down at the picture again. "Wow. You two look an awful lot alike."

Mr. Tumnus was quiet for a moment. "No. No, I'm not like him at all, really."

Nina sighed and set the picture back down on the table. "I wish I had a father," she said softly, more to herself than anything.

Mr. Tumnus looked up at her again. "I miss my father, too," he admitted. "But he died a long time ago. Before this _dreadful _winter."

"Oh, winter isn't all bad," Nina reasoned. "There's ice-skating...and snowball fights..." She tried to rack her brain for more good things about winter, but she didn't have a very long list. Winter wasn't exactly her favorite season. "Oh! And there's Christmas!"

Mr. Tumnus came into the room, carrying a tray and shaking his head. "No, not here."

"What?" Nina asked.

"We haven't had a Christmas for about a hundred years," Mr. Tumnus explained, sitting down in one of the chairs around his table.

"You're kidding." Nina gasped. Mr. Tumnus shook his head. "You mean no presents for a hundred years?"

"Always winter, never Christmas," Mr. Tumnus sighed. Nina sat down at the chair across from him. "And it's been a long, long, winter." He took her cup and poured some tea and a few sugar cubes into it. Nina gratefully took it and took a small sip. It was delicious. "But you would've loved Narnia in summer," he added, smiling. "We...the fauns, I mean...would stay up and dance with the dryads _all _night. And do you know, we never got tired." He sighed, smiling as he leaned back in his chair, trying to relive his memories. "And the music! Ah, such music."

Nina smiled. "It sounds lovely," she said, taking a bite of a sardine.

Mr. Tumnus nodded. Then, he looked at her. "W-would you like to hear some now?"

"Sure," Nina replied, grinning.

Mr. Tumnus reached up and grabbed a small box off the mantle. "I hope you're not familiar with any Narnian lullabies," he said as he opened the box, taking out a small instrument. "Because this probably won't sound anything like one."

He cleared his throat, and then began to blow into the instrument. A soft melody came out and Nina listened eagerly. She wasn't sure what Narnian lullabies were supposed to sound like, but this one sounded wonderful. Sipping her tea, she stared at the yellow flickering flames of the fire. Then, out of nowhere, she saw a small figure - it looked like a horse - galloping in the flames. Nina gasped, nearly dropping her cup of tea. She looked at Mr. Tumnus, but he said nothing, just continued to play. Curiously, Nina turned back to the fire, intrigued. More figures danced in the flames - a galloping stag, four fauns playing music on their pipes...suddenly, Nina felt her eyelids growing heavy. _I guess they don't call it a lullaby for nothing. _She struggled to stay awake - she wanted to listen to the rest of the song and watch the figures in the fireplace - but sleep won the battle as she closed her eyes, dropping her cup to the ground, which shattered. The last thing she remembered was the sound of a loud lion roar.

**x.X.x**

When Nina opened her eyes, it was pitch black. For a while, she was frightened, because she couldn't remember where she was. Finally, her eyes became accustomed to the dark and she remembered that she was in Mr. Tumnus's cave...except Mr. Tumnus was nowhere to be found. The chair across from her was empty.

"I should go..." Nina said softly to herself.

"It's too late for that." Nina jumped, whirling to face Mr. Tumnus, who was now curled into a ball on a bench against the side of the cave.

"What do you mean?" Nina asked. "I only meant to stay for a few minutes, and it's been hours. Everyone will be wondering where I am."

"But it's _no good,_ now." Mr. Tumnus said. He met her eyes, and then looked down, as if he was suddenly embarrassed. A tear ran down his cheek and dripped onto the floor. "I'm such a terrible faun..." he muttered, sniffling.

Nina stood up, shaking her head. "Oh no, that's not true," she said, approaching him. "After all, you're the nicest faun I ever met," she said almost jokingly (for she'd never met a faun before), fishing her handkerchief out of her pocket and handing it to Mr. Tumnus, who accepted it but shook his head vigorously. "Oh, Mr. Tumnus, I'm sure you can't have done anything _that _bad." She reasoned.

Mr. Tumnus wiped his eyes with the handkerchief. "It's not something that I have done, Nina Martin. It's something that I'm doing."

Nina's whole body suddenly went cold. "What are you doing?" She asked alarmedly.

"I'm kidnapping you."

Nina stumbled backwards, her hand clapped over her mouth, her eyes immediately watering with tears.

"It's the White Witch!" Mr. Tumnus cried. "She's the one who makes it always winter, never Christmas! I've taken service of her, and she gave me orders: i-if I were to find a h-h-human running around in the woods, I-I was supposed to turn it over to her!"

_I knew this would happen, I knew this would happen, I knew this would happen. It's all because of the dream. I _knew _something bad would happen, and I should've left while I still could. _"M-Mr. Tumnus, please," Nina pleaded, her voice wobbly. "You wouldn't."

"And if I don't," Mr. Tumnus continued, sobbing. "She's sure to find out, and she'll do horrible things to me. She'll have my tail cut off and my horns sawn off...and if she's especially angry, she'll turn me into stone!" He blubbered. "I'll just be a mere stone statue of a faun standing in her courtyard!"

"Mr. Tumnus, I-I'm very sorry," Nina said, her whole body shaking and tears welling in her eyes. "B-but please let me go home." Mr. Tumnus looked down, wiping his eyes with her handkerchief again. "I-I...I thought you were my friend."

Mr. Tumnus looked up at her, sudden determination in his eyes.

The next thing she knew, he was grabbing her hand and leading her through the woods. It was dark outside and the snow wasn't falling anymore, and the nice, wonderful atmosphere that Narnia had given off before had disappeared. Suddenly, everything seemed gloomy and scary and foreboding.

"She may already know you're here," Mr. Tumnus was explaining as they scrambled through the forest. "The woods are full of her spies. Even some of the trees are on her side." Nina clinged onto Mr. Tumnus tighter, not daring to even look at a single tree, or anything else for that matter other than the back of Mr. Tumnus's head.

Finally, they were at the clearing, the lamppost glowing above them. "Can you find your way back from here?" Mr. Tumnus asked.

Nina peered through the trees. "Yeah, I think so." She turned back to Mr. Tumnus, who was suddenly crying again. She frowned, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, hey...it's alright."

"I'm sorry," Mr. Tumnus sobbed. "I'm so, so, sorry." His hand shaking, he handed the handkerchief back to her, and Nina shook her head, pushing it back towards him.

"Keep it. You need it more than I do," she said half-jokingly. She became serious again. "Are you going to be alright?"

Mr. Tumnus sniffed again, wiping his eyes with her handkerchief. "I-I don't know." Nina felt tears sting her eyes, and he gently grabbed ahold of her shoulders. "But what I do know, Nina Martin, is this: no matter what happens, I am glad to have met you." Nina smiled, wiping her tears with the back of her hand. "You've made me feel warmer than I've felt in a hundred years. Now go." Nina opened her mouth to say goodbye, but Mr. Tumnus was already shoving her away. "Go!"

Without another word, Nina scurried off in the direction she'd come from, not even stopping to turn around until she'd hit the wooden floor of the spare room with a loud thud.

**A/N: **There's chapter four! I hope you liked it, and please please PLEASE review and tell me what you thought! :) Thanks for reading!


	5. No One Believed Her

**A/N: **Hey you guys! Thanks for the reviews, they mean a lot! Sorry it took me a little longer to get this next chapter up.

Just to clarify, this chapter takes place in OUR world, before, during, and after Nina was in the wardrobe, only it's from everyone else's perspective of what went on while she was inside the wardrobe, and before. If that makes any sense…if you have any questions, you can just ask in the reviews! Hope you enjoy the chapter! :)

By the way, the chapter title is from the song "New World" by Toby Mac. It's on the "Inspired by The Chronicles of Narnia" soundtrack. You should check it out :)

**CHAPTER FIVE:**

**No One Believed Her**

**PATRICIA**

"80, 81, 82..."

I groaned loudly as I searched Anubis House, looking for a place to hide. Ugh, this was ridiculous. Why was I even playing, anyways?

"83, 84, 85..."

Oh right. _Majority rules._

Whatever.

I'm not sure why it didn't occur to me to just refuse to play and sit out the game. It would be a lot more fun to sit by myself than to run aimlessly around this huge house in search for a hiding spot. Then again, everyone would probably throw a fit about me sitting out and force me to play. Especially Amber.

"86, 87, 88..."

You'd think that in a mansion this big, it'd be much easier to find a place to hide. Apparently, this wasn't the case. All the possible hiding spots were either taken or blocked off. Actually, now that I think about it, there were a lot of locked doors in this house.

It was a little odd, if you asked me. Like the Professor was trying to hide something from us.

"90, 91, 92..."

Someone flew past me, nearly shoving me into the wall. "Hey, watch it!" I shouted.

I caught a glimpse of long brown hair, and then it had turned the corner. "Sorry!" Nina called, not even stopping to turn around.

I rolled my eyes. _Someone _was taking this game way too seriously. Why she'd even suggested it was a mystery to me. I hated to admit it, but I was with Jerome on this one - hide and seek was a kid's game.

"94, 95, 96..."

Finally, I found a good spot - a long, velvety curtain. I moved to duck behind it, but someone yanked the curtain away from me. I turned to see who it was, and narrowed my eyes.

Of course it would be the biggest weasel of them all.

"Sorry. Finders keepers, losers weepers," Eddie shot me a fake smile.

"You _freak! _I was here first!" I shouted, and Eddie smirked. Once again, he was getting pleasure out of making me angry.

"97, 98, 99..."

"It's just a game, Yacker. Don't take it too seriously," he scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"_Stop _calling me that!" I yelled, glaring at him furiously.

"100!" Eddie ducked behind the curtain, and I quickly followed suit. Unfortunately, there wasn't much room behind it.

"Ouch! Quit stepping on my toe!" I hissed.

"I'm not even touching you!" Eddie cried, incredulously. We stood still for a minute, holding our breaths. "Although..."

"Don't even _think about it, _slimeball." I said through gritted teeth, causing Eddie to chuckle.

"It's okay, I'm fine! I'm back! I'm alright!" Someone yelled in the corridor.

I poked her head out of the curtain to see Nina burst into the corridor, looking absolutely frantic. "Shut up! He's coming!" I hissed.

Eddie poked his head out next to me. "What are you doing, stupid?"

Nina stared at us, confused. "You're...you're still playing hide and seek...?" She asked, perplexed.

"Uh, yeah. It's only been five seconds..." I said, giving her a weird look.

"What are you talking about? Weren't you worried about me at all?" Nina demanded.

Eddie and I exchanged confused glances.

**JEROME**

"76, 77, 78..."

Hide and seek. Possibly the most pointless game in the world. I wasn't even sure why I'd decided to play, anyways. I'm sure no one would object to me sitting out - it would mean less snarky and negative comments for everyone else, anyways.

"80, 81, 82..."

I yanked on a door, but it wouldn't budge. I sighed in frustration and moved onto the next one, which also remained closed. You know, this house would be a lot more interesting if practically all the rooms weren't blocked off. The Professor probably did it because he didn't want a bunch of children going in there and breaking things.

Which sounded a lot like something that Alfie and I would do.

"84, 85, 86..."

The next door I tried opened with ease. Without hesitation, I jumped inside, slamming the door shut behind me. As I jumped, I landed on something - until I figured out that it had been a person, who was screaming. I screamed, too.

"Watch it!" the person shouted.

I knew that voice. "...Mara?" I asked hesitantly.

"Yes..." she replied uncertainly.

I sighed. "Of course," I muttered under my breath, feeling my stomach start to flip. It would be her, of all people.

"89, 90, 91..."

"Hang on, is that Jerome?"

"Yes."

"Jerome, this is my spot. Go find somewhere else," Mara replied stubbornly.

"For heavens sakes, Jaffray, it's only a game. Don't you _ever _relax?" I asked, rolling my eyes.

"Are you ever _not _rude?" Mara shot back.

"Ooh, someone's feisty," I replied, smirking.

Mara took a deep breath. "I am _n-_"

"100!"

"Shh, he's coming!" I cried, clapping a hand over her mouth and cutting her off mid-sentence. We stood there in the darkness, holding our breaths and trying to be as still as possible. I felt Mara's body pressed right up against mine, and quickly stepped away from our close proximity, my heart beating faster and my face getting warmer. _You are _so _pathetic, Clarke,_ I thought to myself, rolling my eyes. _Good thing it's so dark._

Somewhere, a door slammed and I heard heavy footsteps about two corridors down. "It's okay, I'm alright! I'm back!" Someone shouted.

Slowly, I lowered my hand from Mara's mouth. "What was _that?_" Mara hissed.

"I have no idea," I replied, perplexed. I moved towards the door and slowly pushed it open a crack so I could peer my head out, just as a blonde head popped back into the corridor. Mick. Quickly I popped my head back in the room, shutting the door.

"Nice try, Clarke, but I saw you," called Meathead Mick. I rolled my eyes and heard Mara sigh disappointedly as I opened the door and the two of us walked out into the corridor, where Mick was looking at us smugly. I ignored the feeling of pure hatred as I looked at him. I wasn't sure why, but Mick just really, really bugged me.

I looked over at Mara, who, of course, was blushing. I scowled to myself. What she saw in _him, _I had absolutely no idea. But I absolutely hated the fact that she fancied him.

"Oh, it's a bit cozy in there, isn't it?" Mick teased, raising an eyebrow.

"Haha, very funny," I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes.

"Who was shouting?" Mara asked, quickly changing the subject, still blushing. I scowled harder. No, we didn't want her _precious Mick _getting the wrong idea, did we?

"I have no idea," Mick shrugged, and the three of us turned in the direction where the shouting was coming from. We found Fabian, Nina, Eddie, and Patricia in the corridor, arguing.

"What's going on?" asked Mick as Joy, Amber, and Alfie came running up.

"Does this mean I win?" asked Alfie jokingly.

"I'm not sure Nina wants to play anymore," Patricia said, giving Nina a strange look.

Nina stared at all of us, perplexed. "Weren't you all wondering where I was?"

"Uh, yeah...that's kind of the point," Alfie rolled his eyes.

"Wait...what time is it?" Nina asked, perplexed.

"Does it matter?" I demanded.

"What on earth is going on?" Amber asked, completely clueless. As usual.

Nina stood there, staring at all of us as if she was suddenly on planet Mars. "But...I've been gone for hours..." She stammered.

All of us exchanged confused glances.

**NINA**

"So you were in here...for hours?" Joy asked, looking at me doubtedly.

All ten of us stood inside the spare room, facing the wardrobe, everyone staring at me as if I was insane. Suddenly the room began to feel increasingly small and hot and I felt redness creep into my cheeks. "Well..." I stammered.

"Is anyone going to explain to me what's going on?" Amber demanded, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"I don't think anybody really knows," Mara replied, staring at me concernedly.

"I-I went into the wardrobe to hide," I explained, wiping my sweaty hands on my skirt and trying not to look at any one's harsh gazes. "But it was really cold, and there was snow all over the ground..."

"Why would there be snow in a wardrobe?" Patricia demanded.

"Batty," said Jerome, tapping his head. "Quite batty." Alfie laughed.

I felt my face grow hotter and I crossed my arms over my chest. "Just look inside, alright?" I muttered.

Eddie looked at me dubiously. "Nina, are you trying to pull a prank or something? Because it's not a very good one."

"I'm not, I promise." Everyone exchanged glances. "Just look inside." I shoved Eddie gently towards the wardrobe.

He sighed, glancing at us, and opened the doorway to the wardrobe. Another mothball rolled out and onto the hardwood floor. He peered inside. "What exactly am I supposed to be looking at?"

"There was..." I stammered, looking at everyone. "There was this forest inside...and a lamppost, and it was snowing. And this faun, Mr. Tumnus, took me to his house for -"

Alfie and Jerome suddenly burst out laughing. "You've got to be kidding me," Alfie said, bending over from laughter.

"Are you trying to be funny?" Mick asked uncertainly. "Because I'm not sure everyone gets the joke."

"Just _look,_" I pleaded to Eddie, not daring to look at anyone else - especially Fabian, who probably now thought that I was completely mad.

Eddie sighed, and pushed back the furry coats in the wardrobe. I held my breath, waiting for the awestruck moment when he realized there really was a whole other _world _at the back. But all I heard was a hollow knock. Eddie turned back to face me. "Nina, the only wood in here is the back of the wardrobe." He looked at me almost like he was scared for my sanity.

"What?" I pushed past him and stood in front of the wardrobe. Sure enough, it had turned back into a normal wardrobe, with a hollow back to it. Fabian and Amber slowly began to circle around it, knocking on the sides, while Jerome and Alfie howled with laughter.

"Nina, maybe you should take a nap..." Mara suggested, looking at me very concernedly.

"Yeah, or go to the loony bin," Alfie hissed under his breath, causing Jerome to burst out laughing again.

"Are we playing pretend now?" Amber looked at all of us, a little uncertain. "Because I thought we were playing hide and seek..."

"But...but..." I stammered, tears pricking in my eyes. "It was there..."

"Real mature," Patricia snapped, rolling her eyes and stomping out of the room.

"Wait, you've got to believe me!" I cried, but she was gone, the door slamming behind her.

"Well I believe you," Jerome spoke up. I turned to him, a little hopeful. "Yeah, didn't I tell you about the football field I found in the bathroom cupboard?" He laughed, and Alfie laughed along with him. My face fell.

"Oh, shut up, Jerome," Fabian snapped. A small flame of hope flickered inside of me. Fabian was defending me...did that mean he believed me? If not, at least he was trying to help and wasn't laughing at me or giving me weird looks like everyone else.

"Lighten up, it was just a joke," Jerome rolled his eyes.

"Well it wasn't a very funny one," Fabian shot back. "You know, it's really sad that you have to put others down to feel better about yourself." My eyebrows shot up in surprise. _Where was this coming from?_

"Since when did you become my psychiatrist?" Jerome snapped.

"Oh, come on, Jerome. We both know you don't know the first thing about psychiatrists," Fabian snapped back. "It's not like your parents would ever care about you enough to send you to one!"

_That _struck a nerve. My eyes widened as Jerome lurched forward, bubbling with anger, and shoved Fabian, hard. Fabian shoved him back, and Jerome raised his fist. But before it could make contact with Fabian's face, Mick immediately jumped in between them, holding them both back. Jerome tried to lunge forward again, but Alfie grabbed him.

Amber, Mara, Joy, and I shrank back. Jerome quickly shook Alfie off and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him with a huge bang. Fabian watched him, almost with regret, as if he realized how much hurt his words had caused.

"Well that was nicely handled," Joy said sarcastically, glaring at me. As usual. She quickly stormed from the room.

"Um, I think I'll go too..." Mara murmured quietly. She gave all of us a parting glance, and then quickly departed. Mick shook his head, and then followed suit, Alfie right on his heels. Amber sighed, giving me a slightly pitiful smile, and left as well.

That left Fabian, Eddie, and I. I turned to Fabian helplessly. "You believe me, right?"

He just sighed and gave me a sympathetic look, and slowly left the room, not looking behind him. I felt hot tears slowly begin to roll down my cheeks as I turned to my twin brother. "Eddie, please..." I sniffled.

Eddie just sighed. "I think it's time to grow up, Nina." Then he left, too, leaving me alone to cry my heart out.

**NO ONE'S POV**

The rest of the day was quiet, but you could practically feel the tension that hung in the air. And Mara hated tension. If anything, she tried to stay as far away from it as possible, which was hard when you were friends with Amber, Patricia, and Joy.

So, she retreated to the library, which was enormous. Everywhere you looked, there were just mountains of books, and she loved it. Libraries were her sanctuary - they were always quiet and peaceful, and they were a great way to get away from the world and invest yourself in someone else's by reading a good book. And reading was one of Mara's favorite things.

The library also had a chess set, sitting on a table with two chairs pulled up to it. Mara picked a book up off the shelf and dropped herself into one of the chairs. She stared at the chess table for a second. She loved chess - it was a challenge, and she loved a good challenge. She was half hoping that Mick would walk in and ask to play with her, but she knew that was silly. Mick would never willing walk into a library on his own, much less did he know how to play chess.

Mara sighed, opening her book. Sometimes, she wondered why she liked him at all...then he would give her a goofy smile and she'd instantly remember.

"Don't you get _bored_ in here by yourself, Jaffray?"

Mara jumped, nearly dropping her book. "Jerome, don't scare people like that! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" Jerome just smirked, dropping into the seat across from her. "What are you doing in here, anyway?"

"What, a man can't enter a library without having his motives questioned?" Mara lifted her eyebrows, and Jerome sighed. "Fine. I was looking to get away from all the madness going on out there. Everyone's still freaking out about Nina's trip to crazy town this morning."

Mara rolled her eyes, setting her book down. Still, she watched him carefully. She was a little wary of him after his outburst at Fabian earlier that day. _It's not like your parents would ever care about you enough to send you to a psychiatrist. _That comment had definitely struck a nerve. She'd seen pure anger and even a little bit of embarrassment in Jerome's eyes as he lunged at Fabian...almost like he was ashamed.

It had been scary. Mara actually thought that Jerome was going to _kill _Fabian. It looked like he wanted to, at least. What was even more shocking, though, was that Fabian had hit him back. In all her life, she'd never seen Fabian lay a hand on anyone. Ever.

It'd just been a good thing that Mick had stepped in and saved the day before someone was killed.

Mara expected to see signs of anger still in Jerome's eyes, but oddly enough, he looked perfectly fine. Almost as if the whole event had never happened. It looked like he didn't think it was a big deal anymore.

Unless he was just a good liar.

"Besides, I do love a good game of chess," Jerome added, breaking Mara from her thoughts.

Mara looked up at him, surprised. "You play?"

"I'm a man of many and varied talents, Jaffray," Jerome replied.

"Why can't you just call me 'Mara', like a normal person?" Mara asked.

"Because, that wouldn't be any fun," said Jerome. Mara rolled her eyes again, and he gestured to the board in front of them. "Want to give it a go? You know, unless you're scared of losing."

"Is that a challenge?" Mara asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, Mara. I _never _play chess without making a challenge out of it." Jerome smirked.

Mara grinned back at him. "You're on."

**A/N: **So, I start school tomorrow, so that means I won't be updating this story as often as I was during the summer. Which wasn't _that _often, but still. I'll try to update as often as I can.

On a side-note, have any of you gone to see _ParaNorman _yet? If you haven't, you really should! It's a really great movie, it made me laugh out loud a bunch of times. Plus, it's from the creators of Coraline. Which is just a reason on its own to go see it. Anyways, thanks for reading this chapter and please review! :)

P.S. Sorry for all the Jara scenes in this chapter…I just ship it. A lot. Heh.


	6. Turkish Delight: It's My Favorite Thing

**A/N: **Sorry it's taken so long to get this chapter out! I've been really busy, plus I've been trying to add on more to this story. But I hope you like this chapter! Please review! :)

P.S. The title is yet from ANOTHER song from the Music Inspired by The Chronicles of Narnia soundtrack...the song is called Turkish Delight (It's my favorite thing) by David Crowder Band (who I LOVE, by the way.) You can't find it on YouTube, unfortunately, but you can buy it on iTunes!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own House of Anubis or The Chronicles of Narnia.

**CHAPTER SIX:**

**Turkish Delight...It's My Favorite Thing**

"It's ten o'clock! You have five seconds and then I want to hear a pin...drop..."

Silence echoed around the entire corridor that all the children's rooms were in, and just as last night, the sharp _ping _of Victor's pin falling to the floor bounced off the walls. A few minutes later, after Victor had pocketed his pin once more, he walked back to his own room. Once everyone was sure he was out of earshot, the corridor erupted in quiet snickers. Of course, everyone got a kick out of Victor's pin drop speech - Vera had been right when she'd told them that he took curfew very seriously. But as ridiculous as his method was, it worked - only a few minutes later, after everyone was done tittering, the corridor was silent, and everyone was asleep.

Except for Nina.

For one thing, Amber snored pretty loud. And for another, the events of that day kept playing over and over in Nina's mind and it was driving her insane. She hadn't left her room since the game of hide and seek - she'd skipped both meals, which she was starting to regret - but even after all that time to work over what had really happened, she was still confused. Had she _really _walked through a wardrobe and gone into another world? Earlier, it hadn't been as odd, but now, she was having doubts. A magical world, at the back of a wardrobe? It made her think...what if everyone was right? What if she really _was_ crazy?

Sighing, she slowly threw the covers off herself and sat up. She glanced at Amber, who was still sound asleep. _Of course she is. She could probably sleep through a war, _Nina thought, rolling her eyes. Slowly, she eased herself out of bed and grabbed the candlestick off her bedside table, the flame dancing. She made her way towards the door, and stopped, glancing at her rain boots lying on the ground. She quickly put them on just in case, and slowly edged herself out the door and into the corridor.

Meanwhile, Jerome wasn't sleeping very well either. _"We both know you don't know the first thing about psychiatrists. It's not like your parents would ever care about you enough to send you to one!" _Fabian's hateful words had been repeating themselves over and over in his head like a broken record player. He could tell Fabian felt sorry for it, but he didn't care. The words had stung, and Jerome refused to forgive him for it. Even if he came to him on his hands and knees. They hadn't spoken since their argument in the spare room, and he certainly wasn't planning on changing that, ever.

After tossing and turning for the umpteenth time, he threw the sheets off and got out of bed to go use the loo. It wasn't as if he had anything else to do, anyways. After he was done, though, he spotted someone walking down the corridor, wearing a long pink robe. Jerome nearly screamed, ducking behind the bathroom door. "I knew this house was haunted..." He hissed to himself. Until, after closer inspection, he realized the figure was not a ghost at all, but just Nina, walking around at night.

"Well that's suspicious," Jerome smirked to himself, tied on his robe, and quickly followed her.

Nina walked through the house, trying to be as quiet as she possibly could, and trying not to knock anything over. If Vera or Victor, or even worse, the Professor caught her, she would have hell to pay. She turned down to another corridor, hoping she was going in the right direction.

Jerome slowly followed her, trying his best to be discreet so she wouldn't notice him. He wondered briefly where she was going, but soon the corridors began to look familiar. _She's going to the wardrobe room, _Jerome realized. _Wow. This girl really is insane._

Finally, Nina reached the right door, and gently tugged it open, trying not to make it squeak. She slowly walked in and approached the wardrobe. She put her hand on the handle, closed her eyes, and slowly opened it.

A gust of wind came out, immediately making the flame of the candle disappear. Nina grinned broadly. "I _knew _it was real," she whispered to herself, and slowly climbed into the wardrobe.

Jerome watched from outside of the room, peeking through the crack in the door. Once he saw her go inside, he slipped into the room, quietly approaching the wardrobe. "BOO!" He shouted once he reached it, swinging the door open wide. _That'll scare the living daylights out of her._

But no one was there.

He glanced behind himself, perplexed, shrugged, then slowly climbed inside, shutting the door behind him, seemingly forgetting that it was foolish to shut oneself in a wardrobe. It was now pitch black. "Oh Nina..." He sing-songed. "Come out come out wherever you are..." He slowly made his way through the wardrobe, until he felt something poking in his back. He grabbed it. A tree branch? He shoved it out of the way, and continued to push coats back. Well, this was certainly taking a long while...the wardrobe hadn't even looked this big from the outside. And Nina was right, it was awfully cold...weird.

Suddenly, he felt his foot catch on something and the next second, he was sprawled with his face first on the ground. "Ow..." He moaned, and slowly sat up...and then he gasped. Because he certainly was _not _inside a wardrobe anymore.

He was inside a forest, and it was snowing.

He quickly jumped up and whirled around. Sure enough, there was a rack of coats, and he could barely make out the door of the wardrobe, cracked open just a tiny bit.

Blinking in surprise, Jerome slowly turned around himself. "I hate being wrong," he muttered to himself, crossing his arms over his chest. Of course, this was horrible. This meant that Nina had been right, and he hadn't believed her, and she would probably rub it in his face.

But, this was also _amazing_. There was an _entire world _in the back of a _wardrobe. _For a second, Jerome wondered if he was dreaming, and quickly pinched himself.

Nope. He was awake.

"Nina?" Jerome called out. He waited for a reply, but none came. Certainly she hadn't gotten that far, had she? "Nina!" He called again. He looked down, and saw a set of footprints, and immediately followed it. "Nina!" He shouted again. Soon enough, he was in a clearing where a large lamppost stood.

"Why is a lamppost in the middle of the woods?" Jerome wondered out loud, and then rolled his eyes. "Actually, why is a forest in the back of a wardrobe? That's a better question." He sighed. "Great. Now I'm talking to myself. Nina! Where are you?" He shouted. "I think I believe you now!"

He continued to follow the footsteps, but suddenly he stopped. What was that noise? It sounded a lot like jingling bells. He whipped around, and to his great surprise, saw white reindeer racing towards him, a white sleigh in tow. He fell backwards in surprise as it whisked past him. And to his horror, it slowly came to a stop.

A really short man with a long beard and a whip peered out of the sleigh. Jerome's eyes widened and he scrambled to stand up. The short man's eyes focused on him and he glared, charging after him. Stumbling, Jerome tried to run, but the short man's whip lashed out and caught onto his leg, sending him to the ground.

The short man jumped on top of him, unsheathing a dagger and pressing it to his neck.

Jerome gulped. "Stop! Please!" He managed to cry out.

"What is it _now,_ Ginnabrik?" a woman's voice called from the sleigh.

"Make him let me go!" Jerome shouted desperately. "I didn't do anything wrong!"

The short man, who he was assuming was Ginnabrik, pressed the dagger against his neck harder. "How _dare _you address the Queen of Narnia?" He demanded.

"I-I didn't know!" Jerome stammered out.

"You will know about her hereafter!" Ginnabrik raised the dagger, and Jerome shut his eyes tight.

"Wait!"

Jerome opened his eyes, and Ginnabrik slowly turned around. In front of them was a tall woman in a thick, light blue strapless dress that looked like...well, winter. Her hair was long and blonde, and was in a sort of set of braids, and she had a crown made of icicles on her head. She wore some kind of long pelt, and her eyes were an icy blue color. Her skin was pale, and her features were sharp. Slowly, Jerome sat up, his eyes wide. He could honestly say that this was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen.

"What, pray, are you?" the Queen asked, although it sounded more like a statement.

"I-I'm Jerome," he managed. "Your majesty," he added hastily.

The Queen narrowed her eyes. "Yes, but what _are _you? Are you some sort of beardless dwarf?"

Jerome shook his head vigorously. "N-no, your Majesty...I-I'm a boy."

"A boy!" the Queen cried in surprise. "Do you mean to say that you are a Son of Adam?" Jerome didn't answer, for fear that he would not say the right thing and she would become even more cross with him.

"I see you are an idiot, whatever else you may be," the Queen scoffed. "Answer me once and for all, are you human?"

"Yes, your Majesty," Jerome replied.

"I see. And how did you come to enter my dominion?"

"Uh...I...I'm not quite sure," Jerome stammered out, glancing cautiously at Ginnabrik (whom he was now assuming _was _a dwarf), who was still glaring at him. "I just walked through the door to the wardrobe, and came out here." Then he quickly added, "Your Majesty."

"Ha!" said the Queen, more to herself than him. "A door. A door to the world of men! I have heard of such things. This may wreck all. But he is only one, and he is easily dealt with."

While she was saying these things, Jerome was looking at her curiously. Her words weren't audible, but he could still see her whispering things to herself. Perhaps, Jerome thought, she's a bit mad. But no...she seemed far too noble and regal to be a mad woman. Besides, what sort of people would elect a mad woman as their Queen?

"Jerome," the Queen said to him. "How did you come to find this door?"

"Well, I was just following my friend," he explained. Then he paused. "Well, actually, she's not really my-"

"Your friend?" The Queen asked. "Is she a human as well?"

"Yes, your majesty," Jerome nodded.

"How many are you?" The Queen asked.

"Ten," Jerome responded. "But Nina is the only one that's been here before. She said she'd met this man...no, wait. It wasn't a man, it was a faun...his name was Mr. Tumnus, I think. Only the rest of them didn't believe her." He was going to say _and I didn't, either, _but he decided against it. The Queen didn't seem as angry now, and he certainly didn't want to say anything else that would upset her. Besides, he'd like to impress this woman.

Suddenly, the Queen smiled sympathetically. "Oh, you poor child, you look ever so freezing!"

"Um..." Jerome blinked, surprised at her sudden change of attitude. "Well, yeah, I suppose I am...your Majesty."

"Would you like to come sit with me?" the Queen asked, smiling at him. Jerome glanced at Ginnabrik, who motioned for him to do as he was asked, although he was still glaring at him.

A little cautious, Jerome approached the sleigh. The Queen smiled, and sat down. Jerome followed suit, and she wrapped her pelt around him, pulling him a little closer. His face began to feel warm. "Now, how about something hot to drink?" The Queen asked warmly.

"Yes, please," Jerome responded. Then he added, "Your majesty."

The Queen smiled and pulled a vial out from her pelt, and opened it, letting out a drop of a silver liquid drop onto the snow. Jerome watched in surprise as a tall, steaming goblet of hot chocolate materialized. Ginnabrik picked it up and handed it to him. "Your drink, sire," he said with a sneer.

Jerome took a sip. "Wow, this is great!" He found it a little odd that the Queen was suddenly being so nice to him, but he didn't care all too much. "How did you do that?"

The Queen just smiled. "I can make anything you like," she declared.

Jerome's eyes widened and he smirked thoughtfully. "Could you..." _Could you make my mother love me? _"Could you make me the wealthiest man in the entire world?" He asked instead.

"You don't ask for much, do you?" The Queen laughed, and Jerome smiled. Her laugh sounded like wind-chimes moving in the breeze. "I can make anything you'd like to _eat_," she corrected herself.

Jerome chewed his bottom lip thoughtfully, and looked up. "Turkish delight?" He asked hopefully.

The Queen again opened her vial and let a drop of the liquid splash onto the snow. A box with a glittery blue bow on top appeared. Ginnabrik handed it to Jerome, who greedily unwrapped the bow and removed the lid. Eight soft, plump, pieces of Turkish Delight sat inside, wrapped with tissue paper.

Jerome had never been close to his dad, but even still, he had always looked up to him when he was younger. His dad left when he was four, and Jerome hadn't heard from him since. His family hadn't been functional even when his dad _was _around - he and his mother were always fighting - but they were at least a little better.

During that time, sometimes, on special occasions, his father would bring home a box of Turkish Delight. His mother and Poppy, his sister (who also lived full time at the boarding school...he was glad that she never had to be sent home), hated the stuff, so he and his dad would sit at the kitchen table and eat the entire box, all on their own.

After his dad left, Jerome couldn't bear to eat Turkish Delight until seven years later, when he was ten. He'd gone into town and happened to pass by the Sweet Shoppe when he saw a box of Turkish Delight in the window. His mouth watering, he'd bought it and concealed it from his Mum until he had a chance to eat it by himself up in his room. He took one bite, and suddenly found that he was crying.

He was only able to eat one piece. Then, with tears streaming down his cheeks, he'd thrown the rest of the box away and stayed up in his room for the rest of the evening.

That day, six years ago, had been the last time he'd ever cried.

Now, Jerome was starting to regret the decision to ask for Turkish Delight. What if he burst into tears, again? Slowly, he lifted a piece and bit into it.

It was the best piece of Turkish Delight he'd ever had.

No, scratch that. It was the best piece of food that had ever entered his mouth.

He felt an explosion of tangy-ness, sweetness, and tart explode in his mouth, and then a small taste of dough, lemon, and sugar. It sounded incredibly silly, but Jerome felt as though part of him had died, and the other part had just been born. Greedily, he stuffed the whole piece in his mouth.

"This is incredible," Jerome mumbled, Turkish Delight in his mouth. He swallowed. "Oh my," he greedily grabbed another piece and bit into it, closing his eyes as he let the taste overwhelm his mouth.

The Queen laughed, then suddenly became serious. "Jerome," she stated, and he couldn't help but think that his name sounded ten times better coming off of her lips. "I'd very much like to meet your friends."

Jerome looked up, surprised. "Why?" He asked, chewing. "Not all of them are even my friends, anyways. Some of them are downright rotten, come to think of it," said Jerome, especially thinking of his cousin Fabian. "They're nothing special."

"Well, I'm sure they won't be. After all, how could someone live up to _you?_" Jerome gave her a big, dopey smile and she laughed, snatching up Ginnabrik's hat and dabbing at his mouth with it, causing a cross-looking Ginnabrik to huff and cross his arms over his chest. "But you see, Jerome, I have no children of my own," She explained. "And do you know what I think?"

"What?" Jerome asked, chewing.

"I think I could see you being prince over all of Narnia." Jerome stopped chewing, looking at the Queen, impressed. "Maybe even king," she added, lifting an eyebrow. "If you want."

Jerome was silent for a moment. "Really?" He asked in surprise. _I always knew I would make it pretty far, _he thought to himself.

The Queen nodded. "Oh yes." Jerome took another bite of Turkish Delight, chewing thoughtfully. "Of course, you'd have to bring your friends," she continued.

Jerome narrowed his eyes. "Why?" He demanded. "Are they going to be kings and queens?"

"Ten kings and queens? That's a bit of a handful, don't you think?" The Queen shook her head. "But a King _does_ need servants."

Jerome grinned widely. Getting the privilege to boss Fabian around as much as he wanted sounded pretty fantastic. Yes, sure, that was a horrible thought to think about your cousin. But after the hateful remark he'd made about Jerome and his family, Fabian _deserved _to be a servant. _In fact, he deserves even worse, _Jerome thought to himself. _Good thing I'm such a kind person. _And anyways, seeing Meathead Mick running around with a feather duster and a pink apron could definitely keep him entertained for hours.

"I guess I could bring them," Jerome said finally, taking another piece of Turkish Delight. Unexpectedly, the Queen snatched the box away from him and handed it to Ginnabrik, who popped a piece into his mouth. Munching on the piece still in his hands, Jerome stared at the box longingly.

"Jerome," The Queen said, calling him back to attention. She gently touched his shoulder and pointed off in the North. "Do you see those two hills?" Jerome nodded. "My house is right between them. So, when you come back, you'll be sure to know where to go, won't you?" Jerome nodded, and the Queen sighed. "Oh, you'd absolutely love it there. It's got _whole _rooms simply _stuffed _with Turkish Delight, not to mention tons of the finest food that Narnia has to offer." She grinned. "And, by the way, you needn't tell the others about me. It would be fun to keep it a secret between us two, wouldn't it? Besides, if your friend has met one of the fauns, she may have heard strange stories about me, nasty stories that might make her afraid to come to me. Fauns will say anything, you know."

Jerome did not know this, but he simply nodded, pretending as if he did. He glanced back at the dwarf, who was still munching away. "D'you think...possibly...I could have some more Turkish Delight now?"

"NO!" The Queen snapped, causing Jerome to jump backwards in surprise. Talk about a 180-degree personality change. But then the Queen smiled again, patting him on the shoulder. "I wouldn't want you to lose your appetite." Jerome stepped off the sleigh, feeling a little dejected. "Besides, you and I will be seeing each other very soon in the immediate future, won't we?"

"I hope so," Jerome brightened immediately. "Your majesty," he quickly added.

"Until then, dear one," The Queen said warmly. She smiled and leaned back in her sleigh. "Mm, I"m going to miss you." Jerome felt his face heat up again, and hoped desperately that she wouldn't notice.

The dwarf cracked his whip, and just like that, the sleigh was gone. Jerome watched it drive away, and suddenly was aware of how cold he was, now that he wasn't sitting on the somewhat warmer sleigh.

"Jerome?"

He whipped around to see Nina, standing in her pink robe, looking at him warily. But then she broke into a huge grin. "Jerome! Oh my gosh, you've gotten here too!" She lunged towards him, her arms open wide, looking as though she wanted to hug him. He stiffened, shrinking back, and Nina immediately halted. "Oh, isn't it amazing? I can't believe you're here! How did you even get here? Did you follow me?" She babbled, grinning excitedly. Jerome rolled his eyes. Nina could be nauseatingly annoying sometimes. In fact, he found that she was nauseatingly annoying most of the time. _At least she isn't rubbing it in that I was wrong, _he thought with relief.

"Where have _you_ been?" Jerome asked bitterly, not answering any of her questions.

"Oh, I was with Mr. Tumnus!" Nina explained gleefully. "Everything's fine! He hasn't gotten in trouble or anything at all!"

Jerome lifted an eyebrow. "Why would he?"

Nina immediately became serious, glancing around warily. "The White Witch would punish him if she knew he'd helped me," she said, dropping her voice to a low whisper.

Jerome froze, but then a second later, he was standing casually. "The White Witch? Who's she?" He asked, his stomach starting to do flip-flops.

Nina didn't seem to notice. "She's the Queen of Narnia...at least, she claims to be." Nina explained in a hushed voice. "But everyone is positively terrified of her...all the fauns and the dryads absolutely hate her. She's made it so it's always winter but never Christmas."

"Oh," Jerome replied, his voice low. He looked over his shoulder, but of course all signs of the sleigh were gone. Jerome was already feeling uncomfortable from having eaten too many pieces of Turkish Delight, but now that he'd found out that his new friend was a dangerous witch he was starting to feel even more sick. But he still wanted to taste the Turkish Delight again more than he wanted anything else in the whole world. "Who told you those things about the Witch?" Jerome asked, snapping his head back to face Nina.

"Mr. Tumnus, of course," Nina replied, raising an eyebrow. "Why?"

Jerome rolled his eyes. "You know, you can't always believe what fauns say."

"Says who?" asked Nina, looking at him dubiously.

"Everybody knows it. Ask anybody you like," Jerome replied, crossing his arms over his chest. But his face was still quite pale.

"Are you alright, Jerome?" Nina asked, raising her eyebrows. "You look awful.

"Well what do you expect?" Jerome snapped. Noticing Nina's taken aback look, he softened his voice. "I'm just freezing. How do we get out of here, anyways?"

Nina grinned and grabbed him by the arm. "C'mon, follow me."

**A/N: **I added a lot of lines and quotes from the book into this chapter...I've been trying to add as much elements from the book as I can into this story, because the books are just fabulous and (in my opinion) far better than the movie, but the movie is easier to base this story off of.

Hope you liked this chapter, and please review! I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as I can!


	7. This House Sure Gone Crazy

**A/N: **Thanks for all the reviews for the last chapter you guys! Hope you like this one!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own House of Anubis or The Chronicles of Narnia.

**CHAPTER SEVEN:**

**This House Sure Gone Crazy**

The two of them walked through the woods, Nina grinning from ear to ear. She was too excited and happy about the thought that now everyone would believe her and they could all have wonderful adventures in Narnia together. But Jerome wasn't feeling as splendid as Nina was. In fact, he secretly thought that it would be a lot more fun for her than it would be for him. He would have to admit that Nina had been right in front of all the others, and there was nothing Jerome hated more than admitting that he was wrong. It would be especially worse because of how much he had made fun of her yesterday. And another thing, now that everyone would be talking about Narnia, how was he supposed to keep it secret that he'd met the Witch? He felt sure that all of the others would be on the side of the fauns and the other animals. But he was already more than halfway on the side of the Witch.

_If she is a witch, _Jerome thought to himself. Surely she couldn't be, could she? She was rather nice to _him, _at least. She _had_ given him all those sweets. Not to mention she was gorgeous. Weren't witches supposed to look like ugly old hags? They did in all the books, anyways. He decided that maybe the Queen was right...fauns _would _say anything. There was no way that what Mr. Tumnus had said about the Queen could be true. Or at least, that's what Jerome told himself had he imagined sitting in the Queen's castle, a large crown upon his head, making Mick and Fabian do anything he wanted while he ate boxes and boxes of the wonderful Turkish Delight.

Finally, the two of them found the rack of coats seemingly placed inside a row of trees. But they knew better. The two of them walked through and back into their own world, where it was completely dark. Jerome turned to Nina, but she was already dashing out the doorway and down the corridor, most likely to wake everyone up and tell them about what had happened.

Jerome sighed. "Great," he moaned, lagging behind her.

Nina flew open the door to her brother's room and switched on the light, running to his side and vigorously shaking him. "Eddie! Eddie, wake up!" She shouted, probably louder than she should have.

"Five more minutes," Eddie groaned.

"Eddie, get up, now!" She shouted. Jerome slowly walked inside, his hands in the pockets of his robe.

"What on earth is going on?" Patricia groaned, walking in the room with Joy on her heels, yawning loudly. Apparently, Nina's commotion had woken them up. Amber, Fabian, and Mara came in the room next, looking confused.

"Did I miss something?" Mara yawned.

Fabian looked at Nina, who had stopped shaking Eddie. He sat up, rubbing his eyes. "What time is it?"

"_Too _early," Amber rolled her eyes.

"Alright, someone tell me what's going on and why it couldn't wait until the morning," Alfie moaned, dragging himself into the room with Mick.

"Really though, you lot, keep it down. We're going to get in trouble..." Mick's voice faded off and he blinked sleepily, yawning loudly.

"No, you don't get it!" Nina said excitedly. "I've just been to Narnia again!"

Patricia groaned loudly. "Oh my God, you have _got _to be kidding me."

"Nina...I'm sure you were just dreaming," Fabian offered tentatively, hoping not to hurt her feelings.

"But I wasn't! I'm positive!" She explained excitedly. All she was met with was doubtful, sleepy faces - and Patricia, who looked like she was ready to punch someone. "Jerome came too!" She added.

There was a beat of surprised silence.

"Yeah, right," Patricia scoffed. "And what would he be doing there, might I ask?"

"You...you met the faun, too?" Eddie looked at Jerome, looking like he was scared for his _and _his sister's sanity, now. Slowly, Jerome shook his head no.

"He didn't actually _go there _with me," Nina tried to explain, looking at all the others. She looked at Fabian, who was just staring at her, looking very confused, and felt her face grow hot. _I look like a fool. Again._ "He must have..." Slowly, she turned to face Jerome. "Actually, what wereyou doing there, Jerome?"

There was another long pause of silence, in which everyone turned to Jerome expectantly. He stood in the corner of the bedroom, his hands stuffed in his pockets. He'd been trying to appear invisible, but it wasn't working particularly well at the moment. And there was no way to get out of this...he had to say _something._

Jerome wasn't a very nice person. Anyone could see that. But right now, he was feeling particularly nasty, and he wasn't sure why. Feelings of anger were bubbling up inside him, and he nearly felt like he was going to explode.

The thing was, though, these weren't random feelings. The Turkish Delight he'd eaten only a few minutes earlier wasn't any ordinary kind of Turkish Delight. It was magical, and once you'd eaten it, you wouldn't be able to stop thinking about it. It did strange things to your thoughts - it made you angry, and that anger could only be satisfied by more Turkish Delight. And you would keep wanting more, and more, and more.

Of course, Jerome didn't know this. All he knew is that he felt angry. So horribly angry. Angry at Alfie for standing there like an idiot and not backing him up, angry at Nina for being so annoying all the time and putting him on the spot, angry at Fabian for making a rude comment about his parents, angry at his father for leaving him, angry at his mother for not caring about him, and angry at his sister Poppy for going off to boarding school and leaving him by himself to suffer. Even if it had been his idea for her to stay permanently at boarding school in the first place.

All he knew was that every emotion of hurt and anger he'd ever felt in his entire lifetime (and believe me, there were quite a lot) was bubbling up inside of him, and he needed to let it out.

And so he did.

The words came tumbling out of his mouth almost before he'd even thought of them. "I was just playing along," He answered coolly, straightening up. "She asked me to, so I thought, why not? Of course, I didn't think it would go this far..." He gestured to Nina, who sat on her brother's bed, looking horribly confused and betrayed and like she was going to burst into tears at any second.

But Jerome didn't care. The words kept coming. "I'm sorry, everyone," he apologized to the others, who just stared at him, perplexed. "I shouldn't have encouraged her, especially when it's so late. But, you know how _little children _are," he practically sneered, the corners of his mouth turned up in a smirk. The most cruel thing about it, was that Nina was fifteen years old. But there he was, talking about her like she was just a stupid child. "They just don't know when it's time to stop pretending."

Hot tears flowing freely down her cheeks, Nina shoved past Jerome and burst out of the room. Eddie sighed and tossed the covers off of himself , quickly following her out into the corridor but not before giving Jerome a good shove, causing him to lose his balance.

"You're a real jerk, you know that?" Fabian glared at Jerome as he followed Nina and Eddie into the hallway, Amber right on his heels.

"This is starting to get ridiculous," Joy declared. "I'm going to bed." Giving Jerome an angry look, she and Patricia stomped off to their room, followed quickly by an awkward Alfie and Mick, who wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible, almost as if it was like they were never even there in the first place.

But Jerome didn't even care. In fact, he felt completely satisfied with himself. It was absolutely horrible, but he did. _They deserved what they got, _he told himself. _And they deserve to be my servants, too. _Not even the disappointed, angry glare he received from Mara, the object of his affections, as she left the room could wipe the smug grin off of Jerome's face. Smirking at Eddie's now empty bedroom, he left the room as well, heading back to his own, which was peacefully empty.

**AMBER**

It was all a bit of a blur, really. One moment, I'm fast asleep in my bedroom, and the next, I hear a huge racket going on across the hall. And if it woke me up, then it was _huge. _I am _not _a light sleeper.

The next thing I noticed was that the bed next to me was empty. Nina was gone. Groaning, I tossed the covers off of myself, stuffed my feet into my fuzzy pink slippers, and dragged myself across the corridor to see what all the fuss was about.

I came into Eddie's room, closely following behind Fabian, where Nina was apparently pouncing on her brother and trying to wake him up. "What time is it?" Eddie asked, sitting up groggily.

"_Too _early," I yawned, glaring at Nina expectantly. If she woke us up this early in the morning, it'd better be for something good. We all need our beauty sleep. _Some more than others, _I thought to myself, taking in Patricia's furious expression and her bedhead.

Mick and Alfie came in, saying something about how it was too early and we needed to be quiet...I'm not sure, my attention span is especially short when I'm sleep deprived...but I woke up a bit when Nina said something about how she'd just been back to Narnia.

"Nina, I'm sure you were just dreaming," Fabian said tentatively.

I chewed my bottom lip. Oh no, here we go. Nina's going all delirious, Patricia's going to get angry and call her a lunatic, all hell will break loose, and it will only end in tears, fighting, and waking up everyone _else _in Anubis House and getting us all kicked out.

"But I wasn't! I'm positive!" Nina said with so much enthusiasm, I was sure she was going to have an aneurysm or something...wait hang on, do I even know what an aneurysm is? "Jerome came too!"

I widened my eyes and turned to Jerome, who was standing in the corner of the room and trying to look invisible. I looked to him, and back to Nina, then back to him again.

"You...you met the faun, too?" Eddie looking at Jerome doubtfully. Jerome slowly shook his head.

"He didn't actually _go there _with me," Nina explained, suddenly sounding a lot less excited than she had five seconds ago. "He must have...actually, what wereyou doing there, Jerome?" She asked, swiveling to face him.

I sighed, closing my eyes. _This is not going to end well. _I turned to face Jerome expectantly. There was a long stretch of silence as Jerome stood there, his hands stuffed in his pockets. For a while, actually, it looked like he was going to explode. But then, he answered coolly, "I was just playing along." I turned to look at Nina, whose face had begun to fall. "She asked me to, so I thought, why not? Of course, I didn't think it would go this far..." He gestured to Nina again. "I'm sorry, everyone. I shouldn't have encouraged her, especially when it's so late. But, you know how _little children _are. They just don't know when it's time to stop pretending."

I turned to look at Nina, but I didn't even get a chance; she was already shoving past me and before I could even call her name, she was out the door and running down the corridor. Eddie sighed and quickly followed her out of the room, giving Jerome a good shove as he went.

"You're a real jerk, you know that?" Fabian glared at his cousin as he followed Nina and Eddie out into the corridor. I gave Jerome the dirtiest look I could muster, just for good measure, and quickly followed them.

"Nina!" Eddie called, but Nina kept running, her loud sobs echoing through the hallway.

"Neens, watch out-" But it was too late. She'd run head-on into the mysterious Professor. I clapped a hand over my mouth. _Well, we're in trouble now._

As if things weren't bad enough, Victor barged into the corridor. "You children are one shenanigan shy of sleeping in the stable!" He shouted loudly. I wrinkled my nose in disgust. I was not a big fan of Victor. I just didn't understand how a man with such perfectly groomed facial hair could be so horrid.

Apparently, Nina didn't seem to be a big fan of Victor, either. His shouting made Nina sob even louder. Suddenly, Victor halted at the scene of Nina standing helplessly in front of Professor Kirke, unable to apologize on account of she was crying too hard to talk.

"Ha, he said shenanigans," Eddie tittered under his breath.

I shot him a glare. "Now is no time to make jokes, Eddison Martin."

Before he could open his mouth in retort, Vera immediately burst into the corridor. "What is all this racket?" she screamed. Noticing the Professor, she halted just behind Victor, her eyes wide. She blushed, embarrassed. "I-I'm sorry, Professor," she stammered out. "I-I told them not to disturb you."

The professor smiled slightly, although he looked a little flustered. "It's quite alright, Vera, I'm sure there's an explanation for all-"

"WHERE'S THE INTRUDER?" Trudy cried wildly, rushing into the corridor, a metal pan held high above her head.

_Great, _I thought to myself, sighing. _All we need is some music and balloons, and we'd have a party going on up here. _

"Oh..." Trudy said awkwardly as she took in the scene around her. Slowly, she lowered her pan. "False alarm, I guess..." Embarrassed, Trudy ducked her head and began to skitter away.

"Trudy!" The professor called. Blushing, the housekeeper turned around. "I think this one needs some hot chocolate." He nodded to Nina, who was almost clinging onto his robe.

"Of course," Trudy nodded, gently taking Nina by the arm. "Come along, dearie. Let's go down to the kitchen."

"You two are dismissed as well," Professor Kirke nodded to Victor and Vera, lifting an eyebrow. Sheepishly, they nodded and turned to walk away.

"Well, I think that's our cue..." Eddie hissed as he quickly pushed me and Fabian back down the corridor towards our rooms.

"Ahem," Professor Kirke loudly cleared his throat. All three of us cringed and slowly turned around. "My study, please."

"Oh I don't know, it's a bit late...maybe we should be heading back to our-"

Professor Kirke abruptly cut Eddie off. "It wasn't a suggestion."

I gulped, exchanging glances with Eddie and Fabian. The professor began to slowly make his way back to his study, and the three of us followed. It's not like we had a choice, anyways. He led us down a few staircases and through a few corridors, when finally, we arrived. The word STUDY was written on a square brass plate on a door. The professor gently pushed the door open and sat behind his large mahogany desk.

"Now. You seem to have upset the delicate internal balance of my caretaker and housekeeper. And, convinced my other housekeeper that there was an intruder." The professor stated, filling his pipe. I wasn't exactly sure of what all of that meant, but I knew it wasn't good.

"We're very sorry sir," Eddie said quickly. "It won't happen again."

He turned to go, but I grabbed a hold of his robe, yanking him around. "You're not going anywhere," I hissed. Then I turned to the Professor, clasping my hands together and taking a deep breath. "It's about our friend, sir," I explained, glancing at Fabian, who nodded.

"The weeping one?" The professor asked, not looking up.

I nodded. "Yes, sir."

"She's upset," Fabian added lamely, making me inwardly roll my eyes. Fabian was definitely the most awkward boy I knew.

"I could see that," The professor said, almost dryly.

The three of us glanced at each other. "It's just...she's not been herself lately," Eddie began to explain. "It must just be from adjusting to a new place without our grandmother. She's probably worried about her. I mean, whatever it is, we can handle it._ I _can handle it," he insisted.

I shot him an angry look, and the professor looked up. "Ah, you're probably right. After all, it looks like you've been doing a fantastic job so far." He said drily. He smoked his pipe and then gestured to the three chairs sitting in front of his desk. "Go on, sit."

The three of us obediently sat down, Eddie to my right, and Fabian to my left. Of course. I _would_ end up in the middle. "Now, tell me why the weeping girl was weeping," the professor said, smoking his pipe again.

Eddie stared down at his feet, obviously not wanting to speak up for fear of being shot down again. Fabian, who was also the shyest boy in the world, suddenly became immensely fascinated with repeatedly kicking the rug beneath him.

Well, if no one else was going to say it, then I guess I was going to have to take matters into my own hands.

"She's gone crazy!" I blurted out.

"Amber!" Fabian cried. Eddie moaned loudly.

"Well she _has_!" I insisted animatedly. "She's boarded the Loony Train and now she's stopping at Crazy Town to build her permanent home on _Bonkers Street_!"

"_Amber!_" Fabian shouted, louder this time.

"And what makes you say that?" The professor asked, looking at me almost amusedly.

Fabian sighed. "She thinks she's found some sort of magical world," he admitted. The professor, who was now looking back down at his desk and not making eye contact, sighed and shook his head to himself. "In the upstairs wardrobe," he added.

The professor looked up sharply. "What did you say?" He demanded.

Fabian looked at Eddie and I hesitantly. "You know the wardrobe, upstairs?" The professor nodded vigorously. "Well, she seems to think there's a forest at the back."

"What was it like?" The professor asked, intrigued.

"Like talking to a _lunatic,_" I declared.

"Amber!" Fabian said again.

"No, no, no," The professor interrupted. "Not her! The forest."

Fabian looked a little uncertain. "Well, she said it was snowing, and -"

"Wait a second," Eddie held up his hand, looking at the professor incredulously. "You're not saying you _believe _her, are you?"

"What, you don't?" asked the professor, sounding confused.

"Of _course _not!" Fabian exclaimed. "Logically, that would be impossible."

The professor just sighed, leaning back in his chair. "What do they teach in schools these days?"

"Well, Jerome said they were only pretending," I offered. "Although, the whole thing was rather confusing."

"And he's usually the more truthful one, correct?" the Professor asked, looking at the three of us.

I looked at Fabian. After all, he was his cousin. He knew him far better than Eddie and I did, although I already knew what the answer would be before he said it. "W-well, no...not really." He admitted. "T-this would be the first time."

"Well then. In this situation, there are only three possible options. One, she's mad. Two, she's lying. Or three, she's telling the truth." The Professor paused to smoke his pipe. "And, if I understand correctly, you three are under the assumption that Nina has gone mad."

"Well, it's mostly Amber," Fabian explained. "But, yeah."

"Other than this whole incident, do you have any other evidence to prove your theory?" He asked.

"Well...no," Eddie admitted. "But surely that would be reason enough to-"

"And you've said that this would be the first time she's done anything like this. She's never done anything this odd before, correct?" The three of us nodded. "I'm not sure about you three, but that doesn't sound like the symptoms of a mad person to me. So, we're crossing that option off my list." I opened my mouth to argue, but the professor spoke before I even had the chance. "Now, option two: she's lying. Is Nina a truthful person?"

"Please, she can't lie to save her life-" Eddie stopped suddenly, realization hitting him.

Professor Kirke pointed at him. "_Exactly. _And you said it yourself, she's far more truthful than Jerome is. So, that option is being crossed off the list. And if she's not mad and she's not lying then _logically,_" he looked pointedly at Fabian. "We must assume she's telling the truth." He leaned back, smoking his pipe.

I looked at the Professor for a long time, searching his eyes to see if he was teasing or trying to play a trick on us, but all I saw was sincerity. _Maybe Professor Kirke is mad, too._

"But, sir, it doesn't make sense," Fabian said, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "If this Narnia place _was _real, why isn't it in the wardrobe every time you look in it? I mean, there wasn't anything there when we looked. Even Nina didn't pretend there was."

"Well, what has that got to do with it?" asked the Professor.

"Because, sir, if things are real, then they're there all the time."

"Are they?" The professor raised his eyebrow.

"Oh, of course they are!" Eddie scoffed. "You're just trying to pull our legs or something, aren't you?"

"You don't think Nina's story is true," the Professor stated.

"Of course I don't!" Eddie cried. The Professor gestured for him to explain. "There was no time! Nina didn't have time to go anywhere, even if there was such a place - which, by the way, there isn't! She was in the wardrobe for a minute at the latest, and then immediately came running back out claiming that she'd been in there for hours!"

"But don't you see?" said the Professor, suddenly leaning forwards. "That is what makes her story so likely to be true."

"What? How?" Fabian asked.

"Because, if there really was a door in Anubis House that led to another world - _if,_" He added, looking pointedlyat Eddie, who was now scowling, "I would not be at all surprised if this world had a separate time of its own. Meaning that however long you were to stay in that world, it wouldn't take up any of our time here in this world."

"But how does that mean that she's telling the truth?" Fabian asked.

"I highly doubt that many fifteen-year-old girls are very likely to come up with a theory like that on their own," the Professor said. "After all, the most rational way to get anyone to fall for the story would be to hide in the wardrobe for a few hours, then come out and tell everyone she'd been in a magical world for that amount of time."

Eddie opened his mouth to argue, closed it, opened it again, and finally closed it, grumbling something incoherent and slumping in his seat. The professor had won this argument, and my brain was now a completely jumbled mess. "Logic!" the Professor cried. "Why don't they teach _logic _in these schools?

"But, the thing is, what are we to do?" I asked. That was the primary reason we'd stayed to talk the professor, anyways, and I felt as though the conversation had gotten a bit off topic.

"Well, my dear," said the Professor. "There is one plan that no one has yet suggested and is well worth trying."

"What's that?" I asked.

"We might all try minding our own business," he said, looking at us with a sharp expression.

And that was the end of the conversation.

Silently, the three of us stood up and walked out of the study, not even saying goodbye to one another as we entered our rooms. Nina was already back when I arrived, but she was fast asleep, tear streaks still stained on her face. I sighed, kicking off my slippers and climbing into my own bed, burying myself deep inside the covers.

I was exhausted, but my brain wouldn't shut up. The previous conversation we'd had with the professor kept lulling over and over in my mind like a broken record. I now knew that Nina most likely was not insane, and she wasn't a liar, either...so I guess that meant that she must be telling the truth. But a magical world inside the back of the wardrobe? "No way," I whispered to myself in the darkness. "That's impossible."

I had a fairly troubled sleep that night.

**A/N: **IDK why but I just really loved writing that scene in the Professor's study. And I LOVE writing in Amber's point of view, cuz she's my fave. Well, other than Jerome.

Anyways, thanks for reading this chapter and please review! Thanks! :)


	8. Breakfast and Drama

**A/N: **I'm so sorry it took so long, I've been really busy! Aghhhhh forgive me please!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the Chronicles of Narnia or House of Anubis.

**CHAPTER EIGHT:**

**Breakfast and Drama**

**ALFIE**

"Come on, mate, wake up."

"Nooooo," I groaned.

"Alfie, c'mon. It's time for breakfast."

I groaned again, but finally sat up, rubbing my eyes sleepily. I could hear Mick in the bathroom brushing his teeth and sighed. I was tempted to go back to sleep, but the thought of the delicious breakfast waiting for me tempted me more. I threw on some clean clothes...at least, I hoped that they were clean...and brushed my hair, and then headed out the corridor, nearly bumping into Amber on the way.

"Good morning, Amber," I said cheerily. "Looking as beautiful as ever."

"Hi Alfie," Amber said dully. "And thanks."

"What's wrong?" I asked, lifting an eyebrow. Amber was like an open book. You could easily tell when she was happy and when she wasn't, and right now, she definitely wasn't.

Amber turned to me, giving me a glare, as if to say "How could you not know what was wrong?"

Okay, maybe sometimes, Amber isn't like an open book. But I think _all_ girls are supposed to be hard to figure out.

Or maybe they just are to me.

Suddenly, the events of last night came rushing back. Nina claiming to have been to Narnia with Jerome, Jerome completely denying everything, Nina running from the room in tears. "Oh," I said suddenly, widening my eyes. "I thought that was a dream."

"I wish," Amber grumbled, yawning and turning to go down to the dining room. I quickly followed behind her.

Breakfast was delicious, just like all the other meals had been. Except I think it probably would've tasted better if the table wasn't so unusually tense. Obviously everyone still had their minds on Nina's trip to crazy-town.

Whatever, I was not going to let a hormonal fifteen-year-old girl ruin my appetite. I hungrily piled food into my mouth, while everyone else simply picked at theirs. Except for Mick, of course, who was always hungry. He wasn't involved in the huge drama last night, anyways. Eddie was, however, and although he was eating a little more than the rest of us, he wasn't eating that much. Which was saying something, because Eddie is a _big _eater. _Maybe I should write this moment down in history or something..._

"What's with all the long faces?" Trudy asked, frowning as she entered the dining room. "Isn't everyone enjoying their food?"

I gave her a big thumbs up. "I am, Trudy!" I said through mouthfuls of pancake.

"Oh, Alfie, learn some manners, would you?" Trudy waved her hand, although she was laughing slightly. "Where's Nina?"

Everyone turned to stare at the vacant seat next to Amber. "She slept in," Amber explained, not looking up, her brow furrowed. I frowned, wishing she would smile. Usually, Amber's happy, bubbly personality practically lit up the whole room.

"Drama queen," Patricia said under her breath. Eddie shot her a glare. "Sorry," she said flatly, not sounding sorry at all.

"Doubt it," Eddie muttered, shoving a bite of pancake in his mouth. Patricia rolled her eyes, picking at her food.

"Oh." Trudy said awkwardly, finally picking up on the obvious tension in the room. "Well, alright then. Just call me if you need anything." Wiping her hands on her skirt, she quickly exited the room, leaving us sitting in silence.

I glanced at Jerome, who was pretty quiet, too. That was unlike him...after all, he usually didn't care much about other people or their problems. I didn't see why today would be any different. I shrugged and looked away. It was probably nothing - he was probably just tired. I knew I was.

Amber sighed, blowing her perfectly straight blonde hair out of her face, and throwing a napkin over her plate. "I'm not hungry," she declared, pushing her chair back and leaving the table. I frowned as I watched her leave.

"Yeah. Me neither," Fabian added, sighing, and he stood up and left too.

Patricia groaned. "Really? Just because Nina has gone mad doesn't mean the rest of us have to, too," she stabbed a pancake on her plate with her fork.

"Patricia..." Mara warned quietly.

"No, Mara. You know what? I have hadit. Everyone's been so busy fretting over Nina!" Patricia said, rolling her eyes. "Has everyone forgotten that there's a _war _going on? There are more important things to worry about than Nina right now! Besides, it's none of our faults that she's so desperate to seek attention that she has to make up some dumb story."

Well, that had done it.

Eddie loudly threw down his fork, which clattered to the table with a bang. "Would you _shut up _and _mind your own business, _Patricia_?_"

Patricia's eyes widened slightly, surprised - Eddie had never really been properly angry at her before, at least not like this - but then she scowled at the American. "What? Don't want to listen to me talk poorly about your dear old sister?" Patricia mocked.

"Do you just get some sort of satisfaction from hurting other people?" Eddie demanded. "Are you _so _insecure that you have to bully everybody to feel better about yourself?" Patricia opened her mouth to argue, but he cut her off. "No, I think you've yacked enough, _Patricia_. You know what? You need to stop taking your stupid anger from your dad leaving to fight in the war out on Nina and _get over it._" I gasped aloud. No one _ever _mentioned Patricia's dad - we all knew it was a sensitive subject. You could see the hurt flash in Patricia's eyes at the mention of her father, but almost immediately her facade was put back up and she scowled.

But Eddie wasn't done."Because Nina's not crazy and she's not insane so you can stop talking about her like she needs to be sent to a mental ward_. _After all, it's not _Nina's _fault that no one likes you...other than your precious friend Joy, of course." He taunted. "Face it Patricia, everyone's sick of your whining and complaining. I'm not even sure how everyone has been able to put up for you so long, you're so bloody annoying. What else are you good for, anyways, other than being nasty and whiny and a bully? Oh, right, _nothing._"

Patricia stared at him, open-mouthed. For the first time in her life, it seemed that she was at a loss for words. My eyes widened. No one had _ever _talked to Patricia like that - no one had dared to. It just simply wasn't done. I admired Eddie for doing so, but at the same time, it was a low move. Even for him. "So why don't you just do everyone a favor and invest in a better attitude or something. Your constant yacking is about to make me jump off a building." Shoving his chair into the table with an angry huff, he stormed from the room.

"I wish you would!" Patricia screamed after him. "It's not like anyone would _miss you, _slimeball! Other than your BLOODY LUNATIC SISTER!"

The whole table was dead silent. In fact, now would be a perfect time for Victor's "It' ten o'clock, I want to be able to hear a pin drop" speech. Patricia shoved her chair back with a loud screech, standing up. "Patricia..." Joy spoke up softly, but Patricia ignored her, marching out of the room and slamming the door shut behind her, leaving all of us sitting there with our mouths open wide.

Mara glanced around awkwardly. "Um, I think I'll go to the library," she muttered softly, standing up and shuffling out of the room.

That left Joy, Jerome, Mick, and me. I glanced at Jerome, who looked surprisingly calm and at ease.

"Hey, mate. Are you going to eat that?" Surprisingly, it was Mick that broke the silence this time. He was talking to Jerome, who wordlessly shoved the plate towards him. Mick grinned in thanks and immediately dug in.

"You know, I'm really not very hungry," Jerome declared, standing up. He left, just like everyone else had. I stared after him, a bit perplexed. _I wonder what his problem is. _I looked down at my plate, which was completely bare, and then glanced around at the rest of the table, which just consisted of Mick and Joy, sitting in awkward silence. It didn't look like anything interesting was going to happen, so I sighed and left.

As I headed up towards the room that Mick and I shared, I passed by the door to Nina and Amber's room. Curiosity getting to the better of me, I casually stopped by the door.

"Nina, you've got to get out of bed sometime," Amber was saying, trying to sound as gentle as she possibly could.

"I'd rather not," Nina answered softly, her voice sounding muffled.

"Nina, _please_..."

"Amber, I said _no._" Nina nearly shouted.

Deciding I didn't really want to hear the rest of the conversation, I passed by, stopping at the door to Jerome and Fabian's room. Jerome lay across his bed, looking through a small leather book. He hadn't noticed me yet, so I cleared my throat. "Oh. Hey, Alfie," he sat up, setting the book to the side.

"Where's Fabian?" I asked, glancing at the empty bed.

Jerome shrugged. "As if I know."

"Oh," I said. "What were you reading?" I asked, nodding towards the leather-bound book.

"Just a book of pranks," Jerome answered casually, although his eyes glinted mischievously.

I lifted an eyebrow, stepping inside the room. "Mind if I take a look?" If it had something to do with pranks, I was interested.

Jerome shrugged again. "Sure."

I sat down next to him on the bed. "Why don't we plan some pranks?" I smirked. "After all, everyone's distracted right now, what with the whole Nina thing. It'd be a perfect time to pull a prank," I pointed out.

Jerome smirked too, although he looked a lot less enthusiastic than he normally did when it came to prank planning. "Excellent idea, Alfie," he agreed.

And so we planned. By lunchtime, we'd had five perfect plans completely mapped out and ready to be put into action. We'd laughed and snickered as we'd picked perfect targets and perfect ways to pull each prank, but something was different. It took awhile for me to figure out what it was, but then I realized it was Jerome. He wasn't as mischievous or light-hearted, and he didn't laugh as loud as he normally would when I would make a joke. And to be quite honest, he wasn't as enthusiastic about planning the pranks that I thought he would be.

I considered asking him what was wrong, but then I thought better with it. _After all, if anything important had happened, he would've told me, _I reasoned with myself.

I knew this was a lie, though. Jerome wasn't the most open person in the world. If Amber was an open book, then Jerome was closed one that was locked in a safe two hundred feet underground. He didn't open up to anyone, not even me. I'd only known him for a little over two months, but it wasn't hard to figure that out. Everyone thought he was a terrible person...and it was true, he wasn't exactly Mr. Nice guy. But I think, that if you really, really picked away at the shell covering him up, you'd be surprised at what you'd find there.

**EDDIE**

I couldn't even believe the _nerve _of that girl. How dare she insult Nina, right in front of me and then look _surprised _when I gave her a piece of my mind? Maybe I wasn't a good brother a lot of the time but I knew one thing - I wasn't going to sit there and listen to my sister be talked about like she was some _lunatic. _And do you know what? I don't regret a single thing I said.

I was pacing angrily back and forth in a random room I was in...it was all hung with green, and it had a little harp in the corner. I might would've been able to admire how pretty it was if I hadn't been so angry.

Suddenly, I heard heavy footsteps come down the corridor. Hesitantly, I stepped out of the room to see what it was. There was Patricia, walking briskly down the hallway - probably to get to her room. The corridor with all our rooms was just around the corner. I was about to go up to her and yell at her some more, when I stopped.

She was crying.

She wasn't full on heavy sobbing or anything. After all, this is Patricia we're talking about. But she was definitely crying. Her lower lip was trembling and she kept angrily swiping at the tears that streamed down her face.

It was a while before she noticed me standing in the middle of the hallway, but when she did, she froze, her eyes wide. She looked almost...mortified.

I stared at her, my mouth hanging open. "Patricia-" I finally stammered out, but before I could say anything else, she shoved past me and practically skidded down the hallway and around the corner. In nearly three seconds, she was gone, leaving me alone in the empty corridor, staring after her, open-mouthed.

I hadn't really known Patricia for a very long time. But I could easily tell the difference between crying people and non-crying people. For instance, Amber and Mara seemed like crying people, meaning they looked like they cried easily and quite often. Jerome however, seemed like the type of person that never cried. Ever.

And I would've placed Patricia in the latter group.

So unless some really tragic event had happened in the past few minutes since our fight, I'd hurt her really badly.

_So? Who cares? She needed to be put in her place and someone needed to tell her that she can't treat people like rubbish, _I told myself.

But that didn't stop the really sick feeling in my stomach.

**A/N: **Yaaaay, Alfie's point of view! Also, lots of Peddie drama...what's going to happen next? You're gonna have to find out!

I'm so cheesy.

Anyways, please review and I'll try to get the next chapter out as soon as I can! Thanks for reading! :)

P.S. Why don't we make it fun and I'll leave a question for y'all to ask? (because I feel like it) What's your favorite song at the moment? Mine is It's Time by Imagine Dragons. I've literally been listening to it all day. (I'm SO going to see Perks of Being a Wallflower by the way)


	9. One Week Later

**Disclaimer: **I don't own House of Anubis or The Chronicles of Narnia.

**CHAPTER NINE:**

**One Week Later**

"ALFRED MARMADUKE LEWIS AND JEROME WHATEVER-YOUR-MIDDLE-NAME-IS CLARKE!"

If everyone in Anubis House wasn't awake that morning, then everyone certainly was now. Amber's shrill scream was probably heard on the other side of the country.

Jerome poked his head inside Amber and Nina's room, grinning from ear to ear. "Yes?"

Amber stood in the middle of her bedroom in her hot pink robe, her wet hair piled above her head and covered in mud. In her hand she held a muddy shampoo bottle, and if looks could kill, Jerome would be dead. "ALFIE LEWIS! WHERE ARE YOU? I KNOW YOU HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH THIS, TOO!"

Alfie edged himself into the room, giving Amber a sheepish smile. "Oh, hey, Amber. Nice weather we're having, eh?"

"And might I say, brown is _definitely _your color," Jerome added, winking.

Amber let out a long, ear-splitting scream and Jerome and Alfie high-fived, chuckling.

It had been a week since Nina had "gone off the deep end" and Patricia and Eddie's argument, and since then, things had been quite uneventful, and quite better off for Nina. Everyone had been told (by Fabian, Amber, and Eddie, of course) to mind their own business and to not talk about the incident, and everyone was quite eager to comply. (Well, not Patricia and Joy so much.)

However, Nina still spent most of her time locked up in her room, although she came out during mealtimes. Whenever she did, she never spoke, and everyone mostly left her alone. Other than Amber and Fabian, and sometimes Eddie. They tried to talk to her like everything was fine and the whole event with the wardrobe had never happened, but it was harder than it sounded. The worst part about it for Nina was that she realized that Fabian probably thought she was a liar, or a lunatic, or even just really desperate for attention. Despite all the times she'd denied it up and down, Nina really had liked Fabian. Not a lot, she'd told herself. Just a little. And if he had even fancied her back, she doubted that he did now.

On the other hand, Nina completely avoided Jerome at all costs. What he'd done to her had been horrible, and although she didn't know his reasonings behind it, she was pretty furious with him. It wasn't like she'd ever do anything about it, though.

Jerome and Alfie had bounced back into the pranking business head-on. Every day you could expect to find a fake spider hanging above your head when you woke up or that your toothpaste had been replaced with shaving cream...or, like today, that the contents of your shampoo bottle had been replaced with mud. In fact, one day, Alfie and Jerome had tied long strands of invisible string to every object in Eddie's room and had hid under his bed, so that when Eddie entered the room they immediately began pulling random strings, causing the objects to fly off their shelves, seemingly of their own accord. Which, of course, scared the life out of Eddie. Not that he would ever admit it to anyone. (His loud, girlish screams had been a big clue, however.)

For Jerome, though, pranking was a distraction. He wasn't hungry anymore, and when he actually did eat, he ate very little. The taste of the Turkish Delight still lingered in his mouth, and all he wanted was more. He knew he desperately needed to get the others into the wardrobe somehow, but how? He needed to figure out soon. He was starting to get particularly hungry.

Patricia and Eddie didn't speak a word to each other the whole entire week, not even to argue. In fact, they wouldn't even _look _at each other, and at mealtimes, they sat as far away as possible. If one of them were to enter the same room that the other one was in, they would promptly walk right back out. They were still pretty furious with each other, not to mention Patricia was embarrassed beyond belief that Eddie had caught her crying over something that _he _of all people said. She tried to go on like she didn't care, but in all honesty, his words had hurt. Only after he'd said all those things to her had she realized that she actually _cared _about the _stupid boy's _opinion, a lot more than she would like. Which, of course, made the whole thing even worse. It didn't look like things would be fixed between them anytime soon...unless one of them got over themselves and apologized, that is.

Mara attempted to stay out of the whole thing. She didn't like to start drama, so she mostly spent her time in the library, her nose stuck in a book. That was how she normally spent her free time, anyways. Jerome had come up to her one day and asked if she wanted to play chess. They'd played for hours on the same day as the hide-and-seek fiasco, and Mara had to admit that she'd had a lot of fun. But, she turned him down this time. Jerome had just shrugged and walked away. He didn't ask her after that, although Mara half-hoped that he would. Which she scolded herself for. Jerome was a mean person, and he had proved it even more after being so hurtful to Nina. "I'm not even sure why I let him play chess with me in the first place," she told herself numerous times.

Joy was in fact very happy at the way things were turning out. If Fabian had fancied Nina before the whole incident with the wardrobe, it didn't look like he did anymore. Why would he? Like Patricia had said, Nina had invented the whole thing because she'd been desperate for attention. It was weird, though - Joy always thought that Nina seemed like a perfectly nice and normal person. But she didn't really care. She'd been spending a lot more time with Fabian recently, so who cared what Nina's intentions were.

Mick was bored out of his mind. That whole rainy week he walked up and down the corridors of Anubis House. He'd tried reading a book one day, but that didn't last for very long. No, he usually spent most of his time alone - that is, unless Mara came out of her cave (otherwise known as the library) and came to talk to him. Mara was nice, but she was a bit boring, not to mention they had next to nothing in common, so there was really nothing for them to talk about. In fact, if Mick didn't know better, he would've said that she fancied him. But he was probably saying that only because most girls did. Still, he supposed that walking with Mara beat walking aimlessly around by himself all day.

It had rained every day that they'd been at Anubis House, which nearly drove all the children off the edge. Being cooped up indoors all day was starting to make all of them incredibly cranky.

Back at the present time, Trudy came running into Amber and Nina's room, causing Jerome and Alfie to immediately stop laughing. "What's going- oh goodness!" She gasped as she took in the sight of Amber. Nina sat on her bed, a book in her lap, watching with a little bit of amusement.

Amber pointed towards the two boys. "_They _did it!"

Trudy turned to face Alfie and Jerome, who offered sheepish waves. "Boys," Trudy said sternly. "This has got to stop! I know you're bored, with it raining everyday and all-"

"Wait, look!" Alfie cried suddenly, running over to the window.

"Alfie Lewis, don't you dare change the subject-"

"No, really, look!" Alfie cried, beckoning everyone over. "It's not raining anymore!"

"Really?" Everyone rushed towards the window, even Nina. Sure enough, the sky was a vivid blue and the sun was shining brightly.

"YAY!" Amber cried in delight, and before anyone could say anything else, she grabbed Alfie and Jerome by the back of their collars and pushed them out the door. "Get out! I've got to get dressed so we can go outside!"

After everyone was done eating their breakfast, they excitedly ran through the house and out onto the front lawn. Nina sat on the ground by a tree, reading her book, distancing herself from the others, as usual. Amber and Mara, who didn't have a knack for sports, decided not to play either, and simply sat on the sidelines. Amber, of course, designated herself as the official cheerleader, and ignored everyone when they tried to tell her that there weren't any cheerleaders in cricket. Eddie was chosen to be the batsman, Mick as the bowler, and Jerome as the person who caught the balls Eddie managed to miss. **(A/N: Sorry, guys, I'm not British, so I don't really know the names of the positions or the rules of the game!) **Alfie, Joy, Fabian, and Patricia filled in the leftover positions.

Mick seemed to enjoy announcing his moves as he made them, which was a little irritating, to be quite honest. Still, it was a fun game - until Mick swung too hard, causing Eddie to hit the ball and send it straight through the library window. He dropped his bat in shock as everyone groaned, hurriedly running up to the library to see what the damage was.

The window was positively smashed through, and the ball lay on the floor surrounded by shards of glass. Unfortunately, the ball had managed to knock down a full suit of armor as it crashed through the window. "Oh no..." Mara moaned.

"_Now _you've done it!" Mick glared at Eddie.

"What? _You're _the one that bowled it!" Eddie reminded him.

"Eddie, how could you be so careless?" Nina groaned. It was the first time she'd spoken in a while, but no one had time to be surprised.

"What's going on?" Victor's voice shouted from about two corridors down.

Everyone froze, staring at each other with wide eyes as they heard footsteps come towards them - multiple footsteps. "Oh no," Amber said in a despairing voice. "Isn't today the day that Victor is leading a tour?"

Everyone's eyes widened with horror as they thought back to Vera's words when they'd first arrived at Anubis House - to remain absolutely out of sight when Victor was leading a tour, unless they wanted to suffer extreme consequences.

"Run!" Joy shrieked.

They didn't have to be told twice. They bolted from the library, quickly turning down the corridor, trying to get as far away from Victor and the tour group as possible.

"We've got to find somewhere to hide!" Mick shouted.

Patricia put her hand on a door knob, but to their misfortune, they heard Victor's footsteps coming behind it. And they were off again, running every which way. Apparently, Victor was at every door they turned to.

"For an old man, he sure can move fast!" Alfie said in a loud whisper, and everyone laughed.

They turned down a corridor, and Joy stopped to listen outside a door. There weren't any footsteps behind it. She flung the door open wide, and the ten children stopped short.

They were in the wardrobe room. And this was the only place left to hide.

Jerome smiled in satisfaction. Now was his chance. He burst forward and flung the door to the wardrobe open. "C'mon, hurry!" He shouted.

"You've _got _to be kidding me," Patricia said in disbelief.

"There's no way we can all fit in there!" Mara cried.

Suddenly, they heard the sound of Victor's footsteps behind them.

"Well, we're just going to have to try," Fabian insisted. Hesitantly, the ten children climbed inside the wardrobe. Mick, who was the last one inside, cracked it behind him, since everyone knows it's foolish to shut oneself in a wardrobe.

"Ouch!"

"GET OFF ME!"

"I'm not _on _you!"

"Could you not _shout _in my ear?"

"Stop shoving!"

The wardrobe was small and cramped. The ten children screamed and shouted and shoved one another. In fact, hiding in the wardrobe was doing them no good at all, because even though Victor wouldn't be able to see them, he would certainly be able to find them from all the racket they were making.

It started like a domino effect. First, Eddie stepped on Patricia's foot, causing her to become unsteady and knock into Jerome, who promptly knocked into Alfie, who crashed into Amber, sending her sprawling to the ground, screaming. She braced herself for the painful, hard wooden floor, but she didn't meet it. Instead, she found herself face down in something soft, and surprisingly cold. Blinking the stuff out of her eyes, she slowly sat up. She had been going to yell at Alfie, but when she saw her surroundings her anger was immediately forgotten.

"Oh my gosh," Amber breathed, her eyes wide. She began to hit the person to her left, which happened to be Fabian, lightly on the arm.

Fabian turned, and gasped. Soon everyone was stepping out of the rack of coats and into the woody, snowy clearing.

They were in Narnia.

"Impossible," Mara said in awe.

There was a long stretch of silence where everyone stared at the snowy scenery, gaping. Nina was the first to break the silence. "Do you believe me now?" She asked smugly, smirking.

The nine other children exchanged guilty glances. Patricia, who'd given Nina the most grief, suddenly became very interested with her shoes.

Fabian was the one that spoke up first. "Nina, I'm really, really sorry." He admitted guiltily.

"We should have believed you," Amber agreed, looking at Nina apologetically.

Nina smiled. "It's alright. I suppose," she added jokingly, grinning. In all honesty, she wasn't very angry. She was just glad that they finally believed her. She turned to Eddie, who looked blown away. "Well? Do you have anything to say?" She raised an eyebrow, smirking.

Eddie sighed. "Fine. You were right," he grumbled, rolling his eyes.

"And..." Nina asked expectantly.

"I'm sorry," he muttered.

Nina grinned. "Much better." She turned towards the redhead, looking at her expectantly as she continued to study her shoes. Alfie quickly nudged her, and she looked up, sighing. "Alright, well, it's not as if it was an easy story to believe. You can hardly blame me for thinking you were insane," Patricia said defensively. Nina raised an eyebrow, waiting. She sighed again. "But, I guess I'm sorry." She muttered, avoiding eye contact.

Nina smiled, satisfied. "Thank you, Patricia."

Everyone else chorused their apologies, looking extremely guilty...everyone that is, except Jerome. Amber, the only one that seemed to notice, turned to the blonde, her eyes narrowed. "Wait a minute. If this place is real, then Nina wasn't making it up all along. That means Jerome was here, after all!" She accused as Jerome's eyes widened in alarm. "You little-"

"Easy, Amber," Nina placed a hesitant hand on Amber's arm, holding her back and sending a glare towards Jerome.

"You made her look insane!" Eddie said angrily, glaring at Jerome. The others turned to face the deceiving blond boy, looking at him disapprovingly.

"Hey, none of you believed her either!" Jerome pointed out, backing away.

"That was low," Fabian narrowed his eyes at his cousin. "Even for you, Jerome." Jerome just scoffed.

"I think he should apologize," Amber declared, crossing her arms in front of her chest and tapping her foot impatiently.

Everyone stared at him expectantly. Jerome swallowed. He'd rather eat dirt than apologize for anything, but what other choice did he have? Nine angry faces were glaring at him, and he had a feeling Eddie would give him a nasty punch in the face if he didn't apologize, soon. Jerome sighed and turned to Nina. "I'm sorry," he said, trying to sound sincere, even though he was far from it. The words sounded disgusting and foreign on his mouth. _Gross. Now I'm going to have to scrub my tongue with soap._

Nina searched Jerome's eyes for sincerity, and she could find none. What Jerome had done to her was terrible. He'd made everyone think she was an absolute lunatic. Thanks to him, no one (excluding Amber, Fabian, and sometimes Eddie) had talked to her for an entire week. And if she was being honest, she was still a little furious at him.

Jerome wasn't a good person, this much was obvious. But Nina was. And she strongly believed that everyone deserved a second chance. So, she pushed her resentment down, and decided to accept his apology, no matter how insincere it was. "I forgive you," Nina stated. Then, just for good measure, she added. "Somewhat."

Jerome rolled his eyes, but didn't answer.

"So...now what?" Mick asked out loud, after a short moment of silence.

"Let's go visit Mr. Tumnus!" Nina suggested, forgetting about Jerome for the moment and grinning.

"Or maybe," Mara spoke up tentatively. "D'you think, we should go back? I mean, we don't know how dangerous this place could be..."

"Yeah, maybe Mara's right," Patricia agreed, her eyebrows furrowed. "Besides, it looks like it might get dark soon."

"Oh, come on you two! Live a little!" Joy nudged her two friends.

Patricia rolled her eyes. "Well, _sorry_, but I'd rather not die of hypothermia."

"If only there were some sort of object specifically designed to hold some type of clothing that would keep us warm," Eddie said drily. He rolled his eyes and walked over to the racks of coats, grabbing a bunch, and passing them out.

"But, that's stealing," Mara protested.

"Actually, stealing is taking something from its proper place and not returning it," Fabian pointed out. "When we won't even be taking the coats out of the wardrobe at all."

"Very clever, Fabian," Nina agreed, grinning at him. Fabian smiled back, the tips of his ears growing pink. Joy watched, her eyes narrowed. Great. Now that Nina had been proved not crazy, it looked like Fabian was going to toss Joy and their friendship to the side. _Again._

"But -" Mara protested.

"Oh, c'mon, Mara. Joy's right, you've got to live a little." Mick nudged Mara playfully, causing her to turn crimson. Amber watched with a smug smile on her face, her eyebrow raised. She always knew that Mara had a crush on her brother, and this definitely confirmed it. _Aww, poor, misguided Mara._ _He's _so_ wrong for her, _the love guru thought to herself.

Eddie went around the circle, handing a coat to each person. "Do you want me to help you put on your coat, Amber?" Alfie asked hopefully.

"No, that's okay." Amber said immediately, shooting him down. Noticing Alfie's disappointed look, she quickly added, "But thanks!"

"Right," Alfie said, still looking pretty dejected. Jerome snorted.

Eddie handed Jerome the last coat. Jerome stared at the coat, baffled. "But- but that's a girl's coat!" He protested.

"I know," Eddie said amusedly, shoving the coat at him.

Jerome scowled and snatched the coat away, shrugging it on. Eddie turned to his twin sister. "You know the way to Mr. Tumnus's house, right?"

"You mean we can go?" Nina asked, practically inflating with happiness.

"Why not?" Eddie shrugged.

"Yes!" Nina cheered. "Follow me!"

And so the group moved on, Nina, Amber, Eddie, and Fabian in the front, with Joy, Alfie, and Mick following closely behind. Patricia walked just ahead of Mara, both of them a little hesitant, and Jerome brought up the rear, grumbling and muttering under his breath. _At least I've finally brought them here, _he thought to himself, trying to see the positive side of things. _Although I've got no idea how I'm going to get them all to the Queen's house..._ He sighed. _Ugh. This is not going to be fun._

**A/N: **So, everyone is FINALLY in Narnia...which means things are going to start getting more interesting. This chapter was actually really fun to write, for some reason.

Oh yeah, I kind of borrowed the idea of the prank Jerome and Alfie played on Eddie with the strings from another fanfic, although I can't for the life of me remember what fic it was - I know it was a Jara fic though, and in it they played the prank on Mick, not Eddie, but the idea is totally not mine!

Anyways, thanks for reading, and I hoped you really liked this chapter!

Question for the chapter - have you guys seen any good movies recently? I saw Taken 2 this weekend, because the first movie is one of my very favorite movies of all time, and it was alright - no where near as good as the first one, and a tad bit disappointing. But it wasn't necessarily BAD. Anyways, what are some movies that you guys like?

Again, thanks for reading, and please review! :)


	10. Talking Beavers

**A/N: **Thanks for the reviews for last chapter!

**PurpleDucks5: **Hey, glad you liked the chapter! In answer to your question, Lucy = mostly Nina, but also Amber and kind of Alfie but not really, Edmund = definitely Jerome, but a little bit of Patricia and Eddie, Susan = Mara, Fabian, and kind of Joy, Peter = Mick, Nina, and kind of Fabian. Thanks for your review!

**CHAPTER TEN**

**Talking Beavers**

"This is going to be so great," Nina babbled to Amber, Fabian, and Eddie. Eddie rolled his eyes, trying to tune his babbling twin sister out. "We're going to have the best time. I'm sure Mr. Tumnus will invite us in. He lives in this sort of cave - but it's a nice cave," she added hastily, noticing Amber's alarmed expression. "Really, it's got comfy chairs and everything." Amber didn't look convinced.

"And he makes the _best _tea," Nina continued. "Then again, I haven't really had much experience with tea...we never had it in America, you know, but I thought it was great. And maybe he'll bring out the sardines again, I didn't have many last time on account of-"

"Nina." Fabian interrupted, and Nina turned to look at him. "You're rambling."

"Sorry," Nina blushed, and Fabian just smiled at her. "I'm just excited. It was terrible you know, having no one believe me...but now everything is okay! Now we can go to Mr. Tumnus's house and have fun and he'll light a fire and there will be food, and-"

Suddenly she stopped, causing Eddie, who was right behind her, to slam into her, nearly toppling her over. But she hardly seemed to notice. The others came crashing to a stop behind them, confused. "Are we there yet?" Mick called. Nina didn't answer.

"Neens? What's wrong?" Amber asked, her eyebrows knitted with concern.

Without warning, Nina bolted forwards. "Nina!" Fabian shouted, and the others quickly followed her. She ran towards what looked like a giant rock at first glance, until Fabian noticed a gaping hole in the middle with a wooden door smashed to bits and hanging off its hinges.

Soon, the others had stepped inside the gaping doorway, and gasped. Glass and wood and paper were strewn all around the cave. All the lovely descriptions Nina had been telling them about were gone, and it looked as if a tornado had blown through the whole cave. Worst of all, Mr. Tumnus was nowhere to be seen. Joy and Patricia exchanged wary glances.

Nina stood in the middle of the wreckage, crestfallen. "This is all my fault," She whispered to herself inaudibly. Mr. Tumnus had saved her life, knowing he could be punished. And it looked like he had been.

As Jerome scanned his surroundings, he felt the room begin to grow increasingly hot. He shifted back and forth on his feet, a giant lump on his throat. Accidentally, he stepped on something beneath his feet. He looked down to see a picture of an older looking faun - or at least, what was left of it. It looked as though the picture had been slashed with a calw. _That's probably Mr. Tumnus's father,_ Jerome thought. He stepped away quickly.

"Look," Amber said softly, pointing to a piece of paper pinned to one of the stone pillars of the cave.

Fabian stepped forward and ripped the paper off. He cleared his throat and began to read aloud, "The faun Tumnus has been arrested for high treason -" Mara and Patricia exchanged glances, "- against her Imperial Majesty, Jadis, Queen of Narnia, for comforting her enemies, and fraternizing with humans. Signed, Maugrim, Captain of the Secret Police." Fabian sighed. "Long live the Queen." He set the paper on the ground and ran a hand through his dark hair.

"Wait...I'm not sure if I get it." Amber said loudly, breaking the silence.

"It sounds like Mr. Tumnus was arrested for talking to humans," Alfie explained in a low voice, as if he didn't want Nina to overhear him.

"Alright," Joy said aloud. Everyone turned to look at her. "I'm not trying to sound insensitive or anything, but maybe we should go back. Sorry, Nina," she said as she noticed her incredulous look. "I mean don't get me wrong, this was a fun time and all, and otherwise, I would've wanted to stay...but if this Queen or whatever arrested someone for being with a human, what do you think they'll do to an _actual _human?"

"I've been _saying _we ought to go back this whole time," Patricia agreed, rolling her eyes. Mara bit her lip, but slowly nodded in agreement.

"But what about Mr. Tumnus?" Nina cried.

"Well, if he was arrested for being with a human, then I don't think there's much we can do," Mara said gently, looking at Nina apologetically.

Nina stared at everyone. "You don't get it, do you?" Everyone exchanged confused glances. "_I'm _the human! The White Witch must have found out that Mr. Tumnus helped me somehow!"

Jerome swallowed and suddenly became very interested with the glass-strewn floor.

"Maybe we should call the police," Amber suggested.

"These _are_ the police." Patricia pointed out.

"Well, _soooorry,_" Amber said defensively. "They could've been more clear about it."

Patricia rolled her eyes. "Stupidity leak," she said, tapping Amber on the head.

Fabian turned to Nina. "Don't worry. We'll think of something, alright?" He smiled at her hopefully, and Nina couldn't help but offer a tiny smile back.

Patricia was about to interject, but Jerome cut her off. "Why?"

Everyone turned to face him. He stood off in the corner by himself, looking awfully ridiculous in the furry coat that was too big for his skinny frame. "I mean, he's a criminal."

Nina was about to give him a piece of her mind when the robin sitting outside chirped loudly. "Why don't we ask the bird what to do?" Amber suggested.

Everyone stared at her. "Ambs, have you lost your mind?" Mick asked, arching his eyebrows at his younger sister.

"What? Aren't robins usually good birds in storybooks and what-not?" Amber asked.

"Amber, birds can't talk." Patricia rolled her eyes again.

"We just walked through a wardrobe into a magical snowy land. _I_, for one, would not be surprised if a bird began talking to me. Unless someone else has a better idea?" No one did. "Right then. Let's go ask the bird if he knows where Mr. Tumnus is."

Sighing, everyone followed Amber out of the cave and into the bright sunlight. The robin chirped again, and the hopped from the branch it was perched onto one that was a little lower.

"Excuse me?" Amber said. "Do you know what's happened to Mr. Tumnus?"

In response, the bird chirped again, and hopped to the next tree. Amber followed it, and the others went behind her, groaning. Amber repeated her question, and the bird cocked its head to the side, chirped, and hopped to the next tree.

"Ambs, I don't think this is working," Mick sighed.

"Don't be daft, Mick. Don't you see? He's leading us to Mr. Tumnus," said Amber.

"It looks more like he's just hopping from tree to tree," Mick disagreed.

"Wait, hang on." Nina said. Everyone turned to her. "Did anyone hear that?"

"Hear wh-"

"Shh!" The ten children stood there in silence. A loud _psst! _sounded from the far left. The ten teenagers whipped to face the noise, but were met with nothing. They heard another _psst!, _this time coming from the bush in front of them.

"I wasn't the only person that heard that, right?" Alfie asked. Quietly, everyone nodded. "Well, that's good. At least I'm not going insane."

Slowly, the ten children formed a tight group and slowly moved towards the bush, gripping each other's arms and hands. _Psst! Psst!_

Suddenly, a fairly average-sized beaver appeared from the bush, padding into view. "It's - it's a beaver," Patricia said in surprise.

Nina suddenly realized she was tightly gripping Fabian's hand. They both yanked away, blushing profusely.

Mick stepped forward and began to approach the beaver cautiously. "Here, boy," He said softly, clucking his tongue and whistling. He stooped down and held out his hand close to the beaver's nose. The beaver stared at the hand warily while the others watched them with bated breaths.

"Well I ain't gonna smell it, if that's what you want."

Mick leapt backwards, surprised, and everyone's eyes widened. Mara practically collapsed onto the snow.

"It's a _talking _beaver!" Alfie cried.

"Er...um...sorry," Mick muttered lamely, backing away from the beaver.

"Nina Martin?" The beaver asked curiously.

Nina, who had previously been laughing, suddenly became very serious. "Yes?" She asked cautiously, approaching the beaver. He held out a hankie with the initials N.M. stitched on them.

"Hey, that's the hankie I gave to Mr. -"

"Tumnus," Mr. Beaver cut her off. "I know. He gave it to me just before they took him," he said, sounding choked up.

Nina's eyes widened. "Is he okay?"

Mr. Beaver looked around cautiously. "Further in," he hissed, beckoning them. Then he dove behind the bush again. Nina, Amber, Fabian, and Mick obediently stepped forward to follow them, but Patricia and Mara quickly yanked them back.

"What on earth do you think you're doing?" Patricia hissed.

"Finding out what happened to Mr. Tumnus!" Nina insisted.

"But how do we know we can trust him?" Alfie demanded.

"Yeah. If he really wanted to tell us, why couldn't he just do it here?" Jerome demanded. "What if he's leading us into a trap or something?"

"Because, it's not very private here," Nina replied.

"What are you talking about? There's no one here but us!" Joy cried in a loud whisper.

"It's the trees," Nina explained, looking above them warily. "They're listening."

Patricia gaped at her. "Wow. You really are insane, aren't you?"

Fabian just sighed and turned to Alfie. "The point is, do we have any other choice but to trust him? Anyways, he said he knew the faun."

"Are you kidding?" Mara cried. "He's a _beaver_. He shouldn't be _saying _anything!"

"Oh, c'mon, Mara. Where's your imagination?" Alfie said, good-mannerdly punching her gently on the shoulder.

"Alfie! Who's side are you on?" Jerome cried incredulously.

The beaver poked its head over the top of the bush. "Everything alright over there?"

"Yeah," Amber called unconvincingly. "We were just...talking."

"That's better left for safer quarters," the beaver hissed, and then disappeared again.

Nina shot Patricia a look. "Told you so," she declared, and turned to follow the beaver into the woods. The others sighed and reluctantly followed her.

**x.X.x**

The ten children walked silently, forming a tight group, Mr. Beaver taking the lead. Fabian, Amber, and Nina were at the front of the group, right behind him. Briefly, Nina wondered where Eddie was - probably trying to annoy Patricia. She glanced over her shoulder - nope, he was walking by himself. Oh right, she thought to herself. I forgot that they got in some huge fight last week or something.

Nina rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. If she was being honest, she was sort of angry with Eddie. It wasn't like he'd ever been the best brother in the world, but Nina had hoped that he'd at least be on her side through this whole mess. After all, they were _family. _But he hadn't even wanted to find out what happened to Mr. Tumnus.

Someone nudged Nina in the shoulder, startling her out of her thoughts. He was smiling at her, looking a bit concerned. "Are you alright?" He asked softly.

Nina nodded. "Yeah. I'm fine."

Fabian raised an eyebrow. "You sure?"

She glanced back at Amber, trying to see if she was listening to their conversation, but she was busy laughing at something Alfie was telling her. Nina turned back to Fabian and sighed. "Well, I'm just naturally upset about...you know." She was whispering, but she still didn't want to talk about Mr. Tumnus out loud, afraid of being overheard. "And I don't know...I just feel like Eddie's been siding with Patricia this whole time instead of me, the girl that he _claims _to hate. And we _all _know she hates me."

"Oh, come on, she doesn't _hate _you." Fabian coaxed. Nina shot him a doubtful look. "Okay, maybe she does a little bit. But you know, she's Patricia. She's like that to everyone."

"Well, it seems to me that she especially hates me. And Joy, too," Nina added.

Fabian lifted his eyebrows. "Joy, really? What makes you say that?"

Nina rolled her eyes. She'd picked up quite a while ago on why Joy seemed to hate her so much. "You really are clueless, aren't you, Fabian?" Fabian cocked his head to the side, perplexed. Nina sighed. "Nevermind."

"Well, if it's any consolation..." Fabian said, rubbing the back of his neck almost awkwardly. His ears were turning pink, again. "You're kind of cute when you're upset."

Nina blushed and ducked her head down. "Really?"

Fabian smiled, his ears turning pinker. "Really." He said, nudging her.

"Thanks," Nina said, smiling wider. Fabian smiled back. The two of them didn't stop smiling for the whole time they were walking.

**A/N: **Hope you liked the chapter! Fabian and Nina are just too cute omg. This chapter was a little longer than I anticipated it would be, but that's because I'm trying to merge a bunch of chapters together because I feel like the story is moving too slowly and whatnot.

**QUESTION OF THE CHAPTER: **_**Favorite HOA ship?**_ For me, Jara is definitely my very favorite ship ever. Like I ship it so much it's actually unhealthy, they're so good together I could just cry. I love Moy too, though, and the fact that Bobby as Mick isn't going to be in season 3 literally makes me want to go lie on my bed, curl in a ball and cry because I think the prospect of Mick and Joy having a relationship was definitely the thing I was looking most forwards to for season 3 BUT NOW THEY CAN'T HAVE ONE BECAUSE BOBBY ISN'T COMING BACK

anyways

Thanks for reading and please review! It would make me super happy! Thanks! :)


	11. The Chosen One

**A/N: **Thanks for reviewing! Hope you like this chapter!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own House of Anubis.

**CHAPTER ELEVEN:**

**The Chosen One**

**NINA**

After about thirty minutes or so, when it was nearly nightfall and I was starving and about ready to fall over from exhaustion, we came to a stop at the top of a hill overlooking a glimmering frozen lake and a small dam.

"And here we are! My humble abode," Mr. Beaver chuckled. "And it looks like the old girl's got the kettle on as well."

"Are all of us going to be able to fit into that?" Jerome asked doubtfully.

Amber, who stood next to me, turned around and gave him a disapproving look. "I think it's lovely," she declared, turning back to Mr. Beaver and giving him a smile.

"Oh, it's merely a trifle, merely a trifle," Mr. Beaver said dismissively, although his chest seemed to swell with pride. "Not quite finished yet. Be a lot of business when it is, though."

All of us slowly descended the snowy slope and walked carefully across the frozen lake, which Mr. Beaver assured us was stable. As we were walking across it, I noticed a small fish frozen beneath the ice. I'd never seen a fish look scared before, but this one did. I wondered briefly how long it had been frozen, and then remembered Mr. Tumnus telling me that it's been winter in Narnia for nearly a hundred years. I tried to imagine what it would be like to be frozen for a hundred years.

I couldn't.

"Beaver! Is that you?" A voice called from the dam as we successfully stepped off of the frozen lake. "I've been worried sick! If I find you've been out with badger again, I'll -" Suddenly, a furry she-beaver popped into view, looking frantic. Her eyes widened and she stopped as she saw us approaching, giving sheepish smiles. Mr. Beaver strode forward, grinning proudly.

The she-beaver's face broke into a wide grin. "Oh, I never thought I'd live to see this day!" She turned sharply to her husband. "Look at my fur! You couldn't have given me a ten minute's warning?"

I shifted back and forth awkwardly. I'd always hated being in the spotlight, or being treated as special. It didn't happen that often, but still - this was weird. I mean, we were just ten kids from Liverpool. We weren't very special at all.

"I would've given you a week if I thought it would help," Mr. Beaver replied. All of us laughed.

"Come inside," Mrs. Beaver beckoned. "And I'll see if I can give you some food. And some _civilized _company," she added, shooting a glare at her husband.

Mr. Beaver snickered and ushered all of us inside. Eddie, Mick, and Alfie went in first, with Joy, Patricia, Mara, and Amber quickly following them. Fabian went in next, and Jerome was about to duck his head in, when he stopped and suddenly began to stare off in the distance. I gave him a questioning look, but he just stared past me, looking almost troubled.

"Enjoying the scenery, are we?" Mr. Beaver asked, narrowing his beady eyes at the blonde boy. Jerome jumped, and quickly ducked his head under the dam. I gave Mr. Beaver a confused look but he just smiled at me. I shrugged and entered the dam, too.

In a little under an hour or so, with everyone - or mostly everyone's - help, Mrs. Beaver served each of us a steaming hot plate of fish and chips. I sat in the middle of the table, with Fabian and Amber on either side of me. Alfie quickly jumped into the seat next to Amber, and I hid a smirk, rolling my eyes. Although it was painfully obvious to everyone (except Amber, that is) that Alfie liked her, I found it kind of cute. Mara took the seat next to Alfie, closest to the door. On the other side of Fabian sat Joy, then Patricia, who didn't seem very happy to have Eddie sitting to the right of her. Mick sat at the very right end of the small round table. Jerome, always trying to bring everyone down, had refused a plate of food and chose to sit in the far corner of the dam on a stool all by himself.

Everyone quickly dug in, as soon as the plates were passed around. The food was absolutely delicious, and maybe it was because I was so hungry and exhausted, but I thought that it was one of the best meals I'd ever had. I found myself hungrily shoving food into my mouth until I caught Fabian staring at me concernedly. Blushing, I began to eat slower.

After everyone was at least halfway through with their meal, Mick spoke up. "So, what do you think they've done with Thomas?"

"Tumnus," I corrected.

"That's what I said."

I rolled my eyes.

Mr. Beaver frowned. "They've taken him to the Witch's house. And...well, you know what they say," Mr. Beaver gave them a knowing look.

"No, we don't," Patricia said, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"It's well known that few that go through those gates come out again," Mr. Beaver explained somberly.

I stared down as my plate of fish swam in front of me, blinking back tears and nudging my plate away. Suddenly, I didn't feel as hungry as I had before. Mrs. Beaver set a small reassuring paw on my shoulder. "Don't forget, dear - there's always hope." She said. I offered her a small smile.

Mr. Beaver suddenly slammed his cup down on the table, causing all of us to jump. "_Hope?_ There's a great deal more than _hope!_" He shouted enthusiastically. He leaned forward dramatically, causing everyone to do the same. "Aslan is on the move," he said in a low whisper.

I felt a shiver roll down my spine and my breath catch in my throat. A happy feeling began to bubble up inside me. Suddenly, I had the feeling of when you wake up and think you have to get ready for school, but then you remember it's the first day of summer and you don't have to go back to school for two more months and you have long days stretching in front of you where you can do whatever you please. Although I had no idea who this person was, the sound of their name brought a contented smile to my face, and made me feel calm and relaxed. Everyone else at the table wore similar expressions.

"Who's Aslan?" Jerome snapped, breaking us out of our trance. I looked at him, startled. He had a scowl on his face, and looked like he'd swallowed something nasty.

Mr. Beaver burst out laughing, slamming his tiny paw on the table. "Oh, that's a good one," he snickered. Amber and I exchanged confused glances, and I looked around the table. Everyone else was just as perplexed as I was. Seeming to pick up on our confusion, Mr. Beaver's laughter died down. He stared at all of us in disbelief. "You really don't know, do ya?"

Jerome scoffed and returned to his seat in the corner.

"Well we haven't exactly been here very long, have we?" Patricia said drily.

"You've got to be kidding," Mr. Beaver placed his head in his paws and sighed. "He's only the _real_ king of Narnia!" We stared at him blankly. "He was away, for a long time - but He's just gotten back and he's _waiting _for you at the stone table!" Mr. Beaver cried enthusiastically.

"They're waiting for us?" Alfie asked skeptically. "Why?" All of us turned to look at him. "I mean, what makes us so special?"

"_Special?_" Mr. Beaver shouted, practically hysterical. "_What makes you so special?! _You've got to be JOKING! _Everything _makes you special!"

"Aw, thanks," Amber smiled sweetly, fluffing her hair.

Mr. Beaver rolled his eyes. "They don't get it!" He shouted, turning to his wife in exasperation.

"Well maybe we would, if you'd explain it to us," Eddie huffed shortly.

"Alright, alright," Mr. Beaver waved his hands, trying to calm himself down. Then he sighed, for about the umpteenth time that day. "There is a prophecy," he began. "One involving all of you." Before anyone had time to interject another question - because I had about a million running through my mind - Mr. Beaver cleared his throat.

_"When Adam's flesh and Adam's bone_  
_Sits at Cair Paravel in throne_  
_The evil time will be over and done."_

"You know, that doesn't really rhyme," Amber said when Mr. Beaver was finished.

"Doesn't rhyme," Mr. Beaver muttered, rolling his eyes. "_Yer kinda missing the point!_"

"Here, let me," Mrs. Beaver said, placing a hand on her husband's shoulder. She took a deep breath. "It has long been foretold that one day, five Sons of Adam and five Daughters of Eve will come to Narnia. Narnia will go into battle against the White Witch and her followers," she explained. I felt my stomach start to flip. I really didn't like the sound of this. "In the end, they will defeat the White Witch -"

"Put an end to this hundred year winter," Mr. Beaver added grimly.

"And become kings and queens of Narnia," Mrs. Beaver sing-songed. She paused, scanning our faces. "Do you understand?"

"Yeah," Amber said, nodding. Then she stopped. "Wait, actually, no." Mr. Beaver groaned.

"Wait a minute," Fabian held up a hand. "You think we're the ones?"

"Well you better be! Ya think it's just coincidence that ten teenagers that fit the _exact _description happen to show up all at once?" Mr. Beaver demanded.

"But that's not all," Mrs. Beaver added. "As I said before, there will be five Sons of Adam, and five Daughters of Eve. But one of them is..." Her voice trailed off, as if she were trying to think of the right word. "Special."

"What do you mean, _special?_" Patricia demanded.

Mr. Beaver cleared his throat again and began to recite yet another prophecy, but Mrs. Beaver cut him off. "Let me explain this one, sweetie." I hid a smirk as Mr. Beaver rolled his eyes. "The prophecy refers to this person as 'the Chosen One'. They, in turn, will lead Narnia into battle and fight against the White Witch. Afterwards, they will be high queen-"

"Or king," Mr. Beaver added.

"Of Narnia," Mrs. Beaver continued. "It may not be easy to tell who the Chosen One is at first, but over time it will become more clear. This person is brave, and a natural born leader, with a good head on their shoulders."

"So? Lots of people have those qualities," said Joy.

"But that's not all," Mrs. Beaver said again. "The Chosen One has special qualities about them, things others may not have. And the Chosen One will have had these qualities for most, if not all, of their life. In fact, they may not even know about these qualities." she explained.

"What kind of qualities?" I asked.

"They can sense things that others can't," Mrs. Beaver explained. "They have a way of knowing things about something or someone before they've even met them or before it even happens. They can immediately tell when something's wrong and when they're in danger. It seems they always know what to do in a dangerous situation. They can know what to do that will save everyone."

"And it's been told," Mr. Beaver added. "That in times of anger, the Chosen One can do powerful, dangerous things."

"Like what?" Alfie asked, sounding interested.

Mr. Beaver shrugged.

"Well _that_ was incredbily vague," Patricia cried.

Mr. Beaver sighed again. "All I'm sayin' is one of ya are it. And we better get crackin', cuz if I'm correct then Aslan is already waitin' at the Stone Table with yer army."

"Our _army?_" Joy asked in disbelief.

"Alright, no offence, but this sounds like some sort of made-up fairytale if you ask me," Patricia declared.

"Patricia!" I hissed.

"What? Are you honestly believing every word they're feeding you?" Patricia asked. "Because I'm not."

"Patricia's got a point," Mick agreed. Slowly, he stood up, looking somewhat awkward as the rest of us looked up at him in surprise. "Not to be rude, or anything, but, er...I think you've made a mistake. The prophecy sounds fine and dandy and stuff - but we aren't the people you're talking about. We can't be."

"He's right," Joy agreed. "I didn't get evacuated from a war just to fight in another one." She stood up too, and so did Patricia. I stared at the three of them, a sinking feeling growing in my stomach.

Fabian sighed, and slowly stood up too. "Fabian!" I protested, sitting up straight and looking at him with betrayal.

"I'm sorry, Nina," he said, giving me an apologetic look. "But they're right. We're not heroes."

"Yeah. I mean, don't get me wrong, this is cool and all. Really." Alfie said to the beavers, standing up. "But just because I like reading about battles and stuff doesn't necessarily mean I want to fight in one." He turned to the rest of us. "Uh...I think we should leave."

"But we can't!" I cried, jumping up. "What about Mr. Tumnus?"

"It's out of our hands," Eddie said, glaring at me. "Come on, Nina. It's obvious we can't stay here."

I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at my brother and the people I thought were my friends. "How could you do this? How could you just walk away?" I demanded. "They need our help!"

"Don't be ridiculous," Eddie scoffed. "Do you really think you could fight in a battle, Nina? You have to call me in to the bathroom to kill a spider with my shoe almost everyday!"

"I never said I wanted to fight in a battle," I said softly. "I just want to help. It's my fault that Mr. Tumnus is in trouble, and I'm not leaving until he's out of it."

"You may not have a choice," Mr. Beaver piped up, making me jump. For a second, I'd forgotten that the beavers were even there. Mr. Beaver had a knowing look on his face, and Mrs. Beaver looked at us forlornly.

"And why is that?" Amber asked hesitantly, slowly standing up, the one person that hadn't been participating in the argument. Instead, she'd been sitting down the whole time, wearing a puzzled look on her face...like she was trying to figure something out.

"You haven't noticed have you?" Mr. Beaver asked. We all hesitantly shook our heads. "You're two short."

"What?" Patricia demanded. "No we're-"

"Oh no," Amber said suddenly, her face pale. We all turned to her. "Where's Mara and Jerome?"

I whipped around the room, searching for the tall blonde boy and the short dark-haired girl.

They weren't there.

"They'd be at the Witch's house, I'd expect," Mr. Beaver declared, leaning back in his chair. Mrs. Beaver sighed fretfully.

"What are you talking about?" Eddie demanded.

"I'd hoped it wasn't true," Mrs. Beaver said fretfully, looking at her husband and seemingly forgetting we were in the room. "But the way he was acting - Jerome, I mean - "

"It's the eyes," Mr. Beaver agreed. "I could tell by the eyes."

"What are you _talking _about?" Joy shrieked, demanding an answer. "What happened to them?!"

"Has Jerome ever been to Narnia before?" Mr. Beaver looked at us questioningly.

I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach. "Yes. He has," I whispered, biting my lip.

"And do you know what he was doing while he was there?" Mr. Beaver asked imploringly.

"No, I don't," I admitted as my stomach began to do multiple flip-flops.

"Well that's it, then. He's met the Witch, I expect. Had some of her food. And I'll bet that she told him that if he came back with all of you, she'd give him some more. And that's exactly what he did," Mr. Beaver explained. "Or tried to, anyways. Luckily, he only managed to take one of ya."

"No," Fabian said, his eyes narrowed. "No, he wouldn't do that. I know he's mean, and cruel, but..." his voice trailed off.

"Well, I'm not surprised," Patricia stated flatly, but she looked worried. And if Patricia Williamson, the girl that wasn't supposed to care about anything, looked worried, then you knew something horrible was going on.

"So he's taken Mara, then?" Joy asked, looking sick. "What is the witch going to do to them?"

"She's not going to get a chance," Fabian said, grabbing a coat. "We've got to stop them. Now, before it's too late." He turned to face the beavers. "Which way is the witch's house?" He demanded.

Reluctantly, Mr. Beaver led us out of the dam and towards the Witch's castle. Fabian was right on Mr. Beaver's heels, running determinedly as the rest of us trampled through the snow, nearly falling every five seconds. At random intervals we would shout out Jerome and Mara's names, but there was never a reply. I watched Fabian curiously. I'd never seen him like this, but I knew that he would do anything to protect someone he loved - he was just that kind of person. Even if that person was someone as nasty as Jerome. I suppose if Eddie had been the one to go to the Witch's house, I would be acting the same as Fabian was right now.

At last, we reached the top of the slope, and skidded to a stop. In front of me was a tall, blue castle, with many pillars and spikes. It looked exactly as if it were made of ice, and I wouldn't have been surprised if it was. A long bridge stretched from my feet and towards the entrance, and I could barely make out a figure walking towards the large castle door.

"JEROME!" Fabian shouted at the top of his lungs.

"MARA!" Patricia screamed.

"QUIET!" Mr. Beaver hissed desperately, waving a paw. "She'll hear you!"

To my surprise, Fabian darted forward onto the bridge, running as fast as he could. I screamed.

"NO!" Mr. Beaver shouted, lunging forward and grabbing him by the heels. Mr. Beaver dragged a struggling Fabian back to where we were standing. "You can't! You'll be playing into her hands!"

"We can't just let them go!" Amber shrieked.

"He's my cousin!" Fabian exclaimed. "And Mara's -"

"They're the _bait!_" Mr. Beaver shouted frantically. "That's exactly what she's hoping for! For all of you to come charging in after them!"

"Why?" Alfie demanded, looking terrified.

"To stop the prophecy from coming true." Mr. Beaver said in a cold voice. "To _kill _you!"

Fabian froze. I turned and stared at the castle, feeling sick, and watched helplessly as the figure opened the large door and entered the castle. The door closed behind them, and they were gone.

There was a dreadful pause of silence, until Patricia turned to me, glaring. "This is all. Your. Fault."

I stared at her incredulously. "_My _fault?"

"We just _had _to go to Mr. Tumnus's house despite the fact that we're in some strange place where anything could happen! I told everyone this was a bad idea! Mara and I warned you, she said it was dangerous, she told you all to be reasonable, and look what's happened to her!" Patricia screamed, her voice wobbling slightly. "She could be _dead _by the morning! If you all had just listened to us, none of this would've happened in the first place!"

"Oh, so you knew this would happen?" I demanded. "Oh, that's right, I forgot! You know _everything, _don't you? Probably because you're so much better than the rest of us, right?"

"Oh, you're one to talk!" Patricia fired back. "'I'm so wonderful because I care about helping others like my friend Mr. Tumnus! Oh, we _must _stay and help Mr. Tumnus! Mr. Tumnus was so kind and he saved me probably because I'm such a wonderful person and I'm just so amazing!'" She mocked.

"That is _not-_"

"_Don't _interrupt me!" Patricia shouted. "Here's some advice, Nina! NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOU OR YOUR FRIEND. If you hadn't been whining about your dumb friend then we would've already leftand _this_-" She pointed towards the tall castle. "Would've _never happened!_"

"You know what, Patricia? It's really sad that you have to say all these cruel remarks about me to cover up the fact that you're _scared._" I snapped. "And let's face it, the only reason you're blaming all of this on me is because you _hate me for no reason! _Ever since I got here you've just _hated _me with every fiber of your being and you know what? I'm _sick of it!_ I've done absolutely _nothing _to you so you can just-"

"STOP IT!" Mick shouted. Patricia and I whirled to face him, surprised. Actually, I was mostly just surprised at myself. I'd never talked to anyone like that before...but it felt good to let everything out. _Maybe I should do that more often. _"Look, I know both of you are scared, okay? But screaming at each other isn't going to solve anything!"

Patricia scoffed and crossed her arms in front of her chest and I sighed, staring at my feet. He was right, of course. _Who knew Mick could be somewhat philosophical?_

"We've got to be able to do _something,_" Eddie turned to Mr. Beaver, sounding uncharacteristically desperate.

Mr. Beaver sighed. "Only Aslan can help them now," he admitted.

"Then take us to him," Fabian spoke up. He glanced at all of us, who nodded in agreement.

**A/N: **Yeah, I know, it's kind of obvious who the Chosen One is going to be. But hey you never know, I could do a 180 and make the Chosen One someone completely unexpected, like Alfie or something.

You never know.

Sorry this chapter was mostly dialogue...next chapter we'll see mostly the whole thing from Jerome and mostly Mara's point of view! :D

**QUESTION FOR THE CHAPTER: **_**What are some really good books you've read recently?**_I just finished reading _The Count of Monte Cristo _by Alexandre Dumas which I had to read for school and didn't think I would like but actually fell in love with. If you don't get the chance to read it in school, you should definitely go get it because it's actually really good. Also, I just finished _Not a Fan _by Kyle Idleman, which was amazing - it's a book about becoming a follower of Christ instead of a fan and right now I'm hilighting all the really good parts (which basically means the whole book.)

**ALSO, **I'm reading _The Perks of Being a Wallflower _by Stephen Chbosky for the second time which is an _amazing _book. At first I was like "Omg this is like the weirdest book ever" but then I kept reading it and it got _so _good and omg if you haven't read this book yet go read it now it just makes me feel really happy and it kind of makes me want to be best friends with Charlie. I'm a nerd deal with it PLUS I'M SEEING THE MOVIE THIS WEEKEND AHHHHHHHHH

Anyways, thanks for reading this chapter and please review and tell me what you thought! Seriously it makes me so happy whenever I see that I have a new review or someone favorited this story :D


	12. The Witch's House

_**VERY IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE: I CHANGED PARTS OF THE LAST CHAPTER. **_It'd probably be good for you to back and reread it because some of the changes are a little important but if I _tell _you what I changed then you'll be like "But wait why is that important" and I'd be kinda giving it away and blehhh.

But, if you're too lazy to go back and reread it then I'll just give you the biggest change: I changed the Chosen One's powers/gifts/qualities. This is what I changed it to:

_"They can sense things that others can't," Mrs. Beaver explained. "They have a way of knowing things about something or someone before they've even met them or before it even happens. They can immediately tell when something's wrong and when they're in danger. It seems they always know what to do in a dangerous situation. They can know what to do that will save everyone."_

_"And it's been told," Mr. Beaver added. "That in times of anger, the Chosen One can do powerful, dangerous things."_

Changed it because idk I wasn't feeling it.

ALSO I changed my pen name from _xx Camille Elizabeth Storm xx _to _theboyandgirlwhowaited _because Amy/Rory feels.

AND this kind of late but I changed the cover to this story :) I quite like it. :) (Probably cause I made it...lol)

So you guys really don't want Nina as the Chosen One apparently haha...all I'm going to say is, you might be surprised. Maybe. Who knows. By the way, **HPJ-kittycat**, I LOVED YOUR IDEA. Seriously, I wish I was that creative.

Thank you guys for all of the reviews, and here's chapter twelve :)

**CHAPTER TWELVE:**

**The Witch's House**

**MARA**

This was by far the most bizarre thing that had ever happened to me in my entire life.

In fact, I still hadn't grasped what was going on - there was no way this was actually happening to me. But, it was.

There I was, in a whole other world at the back of a common wardrobe, sitting in a beaver dam and talking to beavers that could talk back. Not to mention cook - and well.

And sure, all of this was amazing. It really was. But it was also very, very unsettling. To be honest, I was ready to leave, right then and there, before something bad happened. Which, of course, was bound to happen. Being a human in a magical world where people were arrested just for being with humans? That was just not going to end well.

But no matter how many times I'd spoken my concerns about this place, not a single person had listened. Not even Fabian, who was one of the most sensible out of all of us. No, everyone else was dead-set on finding Mr. Tumnus. They cared more about putting Nina at ease than thinking rationally.

_At least Patricia and Joy are on my side,_ I thought as I glanced at both of them. However, they were too interested in what Mr. Beaver was going on about at the moment. I groaned under my breath.

Suddenly, Mr. Beaver slammed his hand on the table, causing all of us to jump a mile into the air. "Aslan is on the move," Mr. Beaver declared in a low voice.

I perked up, suddenly directing my full attention at Mr. Beaver. I'm not sure why, but hearing that name...I got the strangest sensation. Like I'd just heard a really lovely melody, or received a comforting hug from someone I loved.

"Who's Aslan?" Jerome demanded, breaking the lovely mood. He didn't seem to be feeling the same effect that we were. In fact, he looked like he'd swallowed something dreadful.

After laughing about the fact that we didn't know who Aslan was and making us look like fools, Mr. Beaver explained that he was the real king of Narnia. Curious, I began to wonder what he looked like. Was he short, tall, old, young?

Right as Mr. Beaver was explaining that Aslan was waiting for us at the Stone Table, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. Jerome was slowly sneaking out the door. My eyebrows shot up, and I glanced at the others, but they were intently listening to Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, who were now talking about a prophecy...something about five Daughters of Eve and five Sons of Adam defeating the White Witch.

I'm a very curious person. When I say this to most people, they get surprised. 'What? Sweet, quiet Mara Jaffray, curious?' Those that know me, however, would disagree. They'd probably label me as 'very, very nosy.' But the point still stands: when I see something suspicious, I won't stop until I find out the root of what's going on. After all, it's always been my dream to be a journalist. I may be small and quiet but I can be rather persistent, if I say so myself.

So, slowly, I edged out of my seat. No one noticed - Mrs. Beaver was explaining who The Chosen One was, now. Although I was curious to find out about the prophecy, I was even more curious to know what Jerome was doing sneaking out the door and out into the cold, without his coat.

Without making a noise, I slipped out the door, closing it softly behind me. I stood still for a while, letting my eyes get adjusted to the darkness, and saw Jerome steadily climbing up the snowy slope. I furrowed my eyebrows, but began to slowly follow him, skirting around trees so he wouldn't see me. When we were near the top of the slope, he stopped. I abruptly ducked behind a tree.

"I can hear you," Jerome called out, slowly turning around. I held my breath. "Question is, though, who are you?"

Sighing, I poked my head out from behind the tree. "_Mara_?" I stepped out from my hiding place, and he groaned. "It _would _be you," he muttered.

I narrowed my eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"What are you doing out here? Go back inside." Jerome crossed his arms over his chest, deliberately not answering my question.

"I could ask you the same thing," I replied, trying to look unfazed. Although, in all honesty, I felt kind of awkward. I didn't want to admit it, but Jerome intimidated me.

Jerome rolled his eyes. "It's none of your business, now, is it?" He snapped.

"Where are you going?" I questioned.

Jerome sighed exasperatedly. "Are you always so annoying? Just go back and mind your own business."

"You haven't answered me yet."

"_Mara!_" He shouted angrily, making me jump. He stood there, glaring at me. I held his gaze for a moment, but then awkwardly looked down at my feet. "If you really want to know, then I suppose you'll have to follow me and find out." He answered, smirking. Thinking that he'd won. Thinking that there was no way shy, timid Mara would follow him. He began to walk back up the slope, not looking back.

I stared at his retreating back, debating. I chewed on my bottom lip. Jerome was scheming, and if I were to follow him, it would most likely lead into trouble. And the warmth of the dam was really tempting. It would be so easy to go back inside and enjoy a meal. And why shouldn't I? Jerome didn't want me to follow him, anyways. But, the curiosity was eating at me...

_Who cares? This is Jerome, and like he said, it's none of your business where he goes or what he does with his time, _I argued with myself. In fact, I was just turning back towards the dam, when I heard a tiny voice in my head.

_"Come on, Mara. Live a little."_

I sighed.

_Mick. _

He had been right, of course, as he usually was about those types of things. I needed to live a little.

Well, I'd just have to show him.

I took a deep breath and turned around, slowly climbing up the hill behind him. After all, what kind of person would I be if I let Jerome get in trouble? And anyways, if I turned around, then he would win our argument. And I couldn't have that. At least, I tried to tell myself these things as I climbed the hill behind him.

I was so deep in my thoughts - most of them about how stupid I was for doing this and how I really should've brought my coat and how the Narnian government should learn of this handy invention called roads - when I walked straight into Jerome, who had stopped. "Decided to follow me then, did you?" He asked nastily.

I shrank away from him. I was going to come up with a reply, but suddenly I stopped short. In front of us was a large castle. Except it didn't look like a normal castle. It was a sort of blue color, and a green glow was coming off from it. It actually looked like it was made of ice. _It probably is, _I thought to myself. _In a place like this, anything is possible. _I stared up at the castle in awe for a few minutes, hardly noticing how my hair was flying all over from the wind. "Wow..." I stuttered out in surprise.

"Yeah," Jerome said softly. Only, Jerome was staring not at the castle, but at me. I turned to him, and his eyes snapped so quickly to the view in front of us, it was almost like he hadn't ever been looking at me at all. And maybe he hadn't been.

Suddenly realization hit me. "Hang on," I began. Jerome sighed and closed his eyes, as if he knew what was coming. "Hang on, hang on, hang on. Is this the witch's castle?"

Jerome sighed again. "She's _not _a witch," He insisted, turning away from me and marching forward.

"Wait, no!" I cried, grabbing his arm and pulling him backwards. "What on earth are you doing? You can't seriously be thinking about going _in _there!" I searched his eyes, trying to decide if he was serious. He simply shrugged, breaking eye contact. "Are you _insane?_" I shrieked.

"Quite possibly," He replied, smirking.

"Jerome! What kind of person walks deliberately into a witch's house?" I shrieked.

"Me, obviously." Jerome rolled his eyes. "Now let me go," he said, yanking his arm away from me.

"No!" I latched onto his arm again. "I can't let you do this, I'm not going to-" Jerome yanked his arm away again and began determinedly marching forward, across the bridge. "Jerome, stop right there! You don't know what you're doing! Jerome! Stop it right now, you can't do this! You- you-"

"Go away, Mara!" Jerome shouted, not turning around. My desperate shouting had no effect on him whatsoever.

I stood there, standing at the edge of the bridge, alone. The wind blew, and I shivered, wrapping my arms around myself and staring at Jerome's retreating back. I desperately hoped he would stop mid-way, turn around, and realized what a terrible idea this was.

But he didn't.

Of course he didn't. Because he was a stupid idiot.

"Well, of course, the rational thing to do would be to go run back to the dam and bring everyone so we can stop him before he reaches the castle," I murmured to myself. Except for Jerome was already halfway across the bridge. There was no way I would manage to run all the way back to the dam, gather everyone, and bring them back in time before he went inside.

Now, he was three quarters across the bridge. _I can't let him do this. _And, before I completely realized what I was doing, I had rushed across the bridge and caught up to him. "Well I just can't seem to get rid of you, can I?" Jerome said dryly, rolling his eyes.

"You're a total idiot, you know," I said.

"Been called that before."

We were at the end of the bridge, standing in front of a large, icy door. Without any hesitation, Jerome opened it and slipped inside. I placed my hand on the door, and hesitated again.

"JEROME! MARA!" I whirled around. In the distance, I could make out a group of eight children standing at the edge of the bridge, calling our names. I bit my lip worriedly. Was this _really _wise? To walk into a witch's castle, when it would only take a few minutes to walk safely back into the company of my friends?

I sighed. No, it wasn't wise at all. But I couldn't very well let Jerome walk into a witch's castle, could I? Surely he would get killed. Maybe I could get him to change his mind. Maybe. But I couldn't leave him alone. What kind of person would I be if I did? How could I live with myself if I did? With one last glance backwards, I stepped inside the door, and gasped.

Right in front of me was a very large bear.

I froze, paralyzed with fear, and not daring to move, until I heard Jerome call out, "It's not real, stupid."

He was right. It was just a stone bear. In fact, millions of stone creatures surrounded it, scattered around what looked like a courtyard.

"It looks so real, though," I murmured, reaching out a hand and hesitantly touching the bear on its stone cold nose. I focused my eyes behind it, where Jerome stood, his arms crossed in front of his chest, and eyebrow lifted, looking extremely arrogant. Oh wait, nevermind. That's how he always looked. _Idiot, _I thought to myself.

"So you followed me?" He questioned. "I thought for sure you would chicken out."

"Yeah, about that," I glanced hesitantly towards the door. "Maybe we should go back." Jerome didn't look convinced. "The others are worried about us," I added.

Jerome scoffed. "Yeah, right. More like worried about _you. _They couldn't care less about what happens to me."

"I'm sure that's not true," I replied softly. He rolled his eyes. "Jerome, please, be reasonable."

"What's the fun in that?" He smirked.

I let out a long sigh, crossing my arms in front of my chest. "Do you mind telling me what you're even doing at a witch's house?"

"She's _not _a witch," He insisted, not looking at me.

"Right. Because normal people have a million animal statues in their house."

"Actually, my old neighbor did," said Jerome.

"Jerome, come on. Have you _ever _heard of a queen that kept a million creepy statues in her house and was often referred to as a witch?" I demanded.

"Have you ever _met _a queen in real life, Jaffray?" Jerome demanded, lifting an eyebrow. "Of course you haven't. Then how would you know what sort of things that Queens do and keep in their houses?"

I sighed loudly. "You're being _ridiculous._" He didn't answer me. "Please, Jerome? Can't I at least know why you left a perfectly good meal to come here instead?"

Jerome groaned. "Well, if you're going to keep _nagging _me about it..." He sighed, exasperated. "When I followed Nina here, a few nights ago, I met this woman...she was gorgeous. Completely gorgeous. At first, I thought she was going to kill me," he admitted, and I scoffed. "But then she invited me onto her sleigh, and we had a talk. She gave me some hot chocolate...and some Turkish Delight..." Suddenly his voice trailed off and he seemed to be caught up in the thought of the Turkish Delight. His mouth was practically watering. I raised an eyebrow, and he shook his head. "Anyways, she told me that if I came back with my friends, she would give me more." Before I could reply, he added, "And, she said she would make me King." He looked at me smugly.

"I'm guessing your mother never told you not to talk to strangers," I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, well, she didn't." Jerome said coldly, glaring at me.

I sighed. "Can't you buy some Turkish Delight back at home?"

"Actually, Mara, do you know what a _better_ question is?" Jerome said, gritting his teeth and narrowing his eyes at me. "It's, what exactly are _you _doing here? I didn't ask you to come. You came all on your own so stop complaining and whining. I swear, you are_ the_ most _aggravating, whiny, _and _nosy _person I've ever met." I cringed. Ouch. That stung. "If you want to go so much, then just _leave._" His voice was cold and harsh, and I stepped backwards, startled. "I'm not stopping you."

There was a heavy silence between us. Finally, I said, "And leave you here to die by yourself?"

"Please, stop acting like you actually _care _about my well-being. It's sickening," Jerome spat.

I cringed again, then sighed. "Jerome." His eyes snapped up at me, looking cross. "_Please._" I whispered pleadingly.

His expression softened, and for a second, I thought he might actually be considering leaving. He might would actually come with me and maybe we could pretend the whole thing never happened. But just like that, his expression hardened again. "No," He said with finality.

And that was that.

I walked behind him in silence, feeling awfully sick and almost like I was going to throw up. Suddenly, he stopped beside a statue of a lion. He picked up a piece of charcoal at his feet and drew eyeglasses and a mustache on the stone lion. He stepped back to admire his work, looking smug. I watched him, my eyes narrowed, but said nothing. I didn't want another death glare and a cruel, snappy comeback from "I-Must-Be-Pregnant-Because-I-Have-So-Many-Mood-Swings" Jerome.

The two of us approached the steps to the castle and I gulped. What on earth was I still doing here? Jerome was right, I should've left while I still could. Jerome was in front of me, and he lifted his leg over a statue covered in snow.

BAM! The statue sprang to life and I fell backwards, screaming and nearly peeing myself in the process. Jerome let out a yelp of surprise as the statue jumped on top of Jerome, pinning him to the ground.

"Be still, trespasser," the statue growled - which, by now, I'd figured out wasn't a statue at all, but a wolf. That could talk. Of course. "Who are you, and who is your accomplice?" I assumed he was referring to me, but I didn't dare move, even though my bottom was stinging from falling backwards onto the ground and into the wet snow.

"I-I'm Jerome!" Jerome stammered out. I'd never seen him look so terrified before. "The Queen sent me here! I met her in the woods the other day, she told me to come back-" The wolf didn't seem convinced as it continued to snap its teeth and growl. "I'm a Son of Adam!" Jerome blurted out.

Well, that seemed to do the trick. The wolf stopped growling, and immediately stepped off of Jerome. "Then I'm assuming you're a Daughter of Eve?" The wolf turned to me, his yellow eyes shining in the darkness.

Wordlessly, I nodded. I was starting to assume that "Daughter of Eve" was Narnian for "female."

The wolf turned back to Jerome, who was still on the ground beside him. "Well, then. My apologies," the wolf sneered, although he didn't sound very sorry at all. His voice was raspy and frightening, and it made my skin itch. I slowly stood up, still shaking, and brushed snow off of myself. Jerome stood up, too. "Right this way, fortunate favorites of the Queen," the wolf growled. "Or else, not so fortunate." The wolf began to pad inside the castle. Jerome and I exchanged glances, but wordlessly, we followed him.

He led us through a grand hallway and up a long flight of stairs until we entered what appeared to be a throne room. At the end of the room was a tall, icy throne with a fur stole wrapped around it. "Wait here," the wolf said gruffly, and padded away.

I glanced at Jerome, who seemed to have forgotten I was still there. He was busy staring longingly at the throne that stood in front of him. Slowly, he approached it, running his hand across the top and then sinking into the throne, a smug grin on his face. I scoffed. _Disgusting._

"You like it?" Jerome jumped and whirled around. A tall woman wearing a long, ice blue dress that was very fitting to her figure was standing behind the throne, a faint smile on her face. She wore a tall crown made of icicles on her head, and her hair was blonde and wrapped in a tight bun on top of her head. She was beautiful, no doubt, and Jerome especially seemed to think so, from the way he was staring at her.

"Y-yes," Jerome stammered hastily. "Your majesty," he added quickly. I cocked my head to the side as the woman sat down at the throne. Was this the witch? I'd assumed she'd look...well, ugly. After all, isn't that how witches are depicted in storybooks? And she didn't seem to be very cruel, either. Perhaps Jerome was right. Maybe she wasn't a witch at all. But still, there was something off about her. I just couldn't put my finger on it...

"I thought you might," the woman replied, smiling almost kindly. Suddenly her eyes focused on me. "Who's this?"

"Oh, this is Mara," Jerome explained hastily. "She's my -"

"I came here with him," I explained. 'Friend' didn't really seem like an appropriate word.

"I see." She looked away from me and back at Jerome. "Now, tell me. Are you particularly well in Maths?"

Jerome stared at her, surprised. "Well, yeah. I suppose so," he replied slowly, sounding perplexed.

"Then _why,_" The woman's voice raised drastically, causing me to jump backwards. "_Have you only brought one person?_" She practically screamed, rising out of her seat. Jerome stumbled backwards.

"I tried-" Jerome tried to explain himself.

"Could you not count?" The woman demanded, cornering him as he stumbled backwards.

"They wouldn't listen!" Jerome cried.

"I clearly remember asking you to bring nine others, not one!" The woman screamed.

"I did bring them halfway!" Jerome cried desperately. The Witch (because there was no question now about whether she was actually a witch or not) paused. "They're at the little house on the dam, with the beavers!"

"Jerome!" I hissed, aghast.

"Oh really?" The Witch leaned back, looking satisfied. "Well. I suppose you're not a total loss, then. Are you?" She turned away from him, and slowly approached me. I cringed, wanting to turn and run but unable to move from the spot. "And you," she spoke harshly. "You may find it wise only to speak when spoken to. Is that understood?" Wordlessly, I nodded. She gave me a thin-lipped smile, and turned around, walking back to her throne.

"I-I was wondering," Jerome blurted out. The Witch stopped and turning around. "D'you think maybe...I could possibly have some Turkish Delight now?" He stammered tentatively.

I looked at him incredulously, and truly felt the need to slap him in the face. How _dare _he be so selfish and inconsiderate?

The witch lifted an eyebrow, looking amused, and turned to a short man standing next to her (most likely a dwarf) that I hadn't noticed before. "I think our guests are hungry," She said to him, smirking.

The dwarf grinned evilly, and approached us. "This way," He said tauntingly. "For your _desserts,_" He pulled out a knife and held it to Jerome's back, and then grabbed my back with his other hand, pinching my skin. I let out a small yelp of pain as he thrust us forward.

"Maugrim!" The witch called. We stopped, and the wolf from earlier stepped beside the Witch's throne. The witch turned to him. "You know what to do," she instructed.

The wolf leaned back and let out a long howl. Instantly, several wolves responded, and out of nowhere, they entered the room. The whole pack streamed out of the castle, Maugrim leading it. The dwarf thrust us forward again, and I wondered for a moment where the wolves were going. Realization struck me only a few seconds later, and for a moment I thought I was going to be sick.

They were going to the Beaver's Dam.

They were going to kill our friends.

And there was nothing we could do about it.

**A/N:**

dum dum dummmm

Sorry this chapter was a little short...I tried to make it longer, but then I couldn't find a good place to end it at so I just left it like this. Sorry if this chapter sucked but it's really late and I'm feeling quite sleep-deprived but I really wanted to put this up today because I knew I wouldn't have any time later.

Speaking of which, _**Happy Election Day!**_ That is, if your American. If you're not, then nevermind.

OH YEAH SPEAKING OF IMPORTANT THINGS I KNOW THIS IS KINDA LATE BUT DID ANY OF YOU SEE THE SEASON 3 PROMO FOR HOUSE OF ANUBIS OMG ASFDSJFLKDSNFDSNFLKDS I'M SO EXCITED I CAN'T CONTAIN MYSELF WAKE ME UP IN JANUARY PLEASE.

Also, if you like this story, then you might also like my new story **House of Taylor Swift, **which is a collection of songfics set to really any song by T. Swizzle that I could possibly relate to HOA. I've only got one chapter up so far but you should definitely check it out :D Thanks!

**QUESTION FOR THE CHAPTER: **_**Which House of Anubis character are you most like? **_For me, it's definitely Fabian. He's my spirit animal, no joke. Like the only thing we don't have in common is that he's really smart and I'm not. But we're both really awkward and like to spend time in libraries and I'm often described as a pushover and a doormat, just like Fabian. I'm also a lot like Mara and Amber though, because I'm usually known as the goody-two-shoes, and I have a lot of blonde moments.

Thank you all for reading, and please review! :)


	13. Hiding in Trees and Making Up

**A/N: **Sorry this chapter took so long to come out...I had a hard time writing it, plus I've just been really busy lately.

Anyways, it's officially promo season for HOA. I'm a little iffy about the brand new promo...I LOVED the first one, but the Entertainment Weekly one was just...bleh.

Like we got a little more of Joy (one shot...) but, again, NO MARA AT ALL EXCEPT FOR THE VERY LAST SHOT WITH EVERYONE (and that was the only shot we got of Jerome, too which I absolutely hate).

And IDK but I thought there were a lot of really cheesy lines in the promo and I was like cringing and then that Willow/Alfie wave...NO NO NO I NEED AMFIE IN MY LIFE maybe I'm jumping to conclusions but ugh Alfie and Amber had SO much development last season. I NEED THEM TO LAST.

AND THEN the fact that ANA HAS BEEN IN THE US FOR LIKE HALF OF FILMING like what is that even all about it's freaking me out to be honest cuz Amber is my second favorite character in the whole entire show and I feel like they wouldn't just write off her character (she invented Sibuna) but it's just really making me nervous that she's missed over half of the filming and she wasn't in any of the promo shoots or anything and it feels like what happened with Mick last year for season 2 and look how that turned out HE MOVED TO AUSTRALIA AND WAS GONE UNTIL THE SEASON FINALE

I NEED AMBER IN SEASON 3 like you do not even understand.

Honestly House of Anubis is NOT House of Anubis without her and oh my gosh just thinking about it makes me want to have a panic attack asdfghjkl;

and I'm calm.

But other than that...ehh I'm not liking the fact that Eddie's the main character. Like before I was really psyched about it but after that promo idk. Like, Eddie's one of my favorite characters but I just don't want him to be the main character...I don't know I can't explain it I just don't. And I feel like Fabian's character is going to be less important...cuz like he used to be up front with Nina but now he's pushed towards the back and ehhh idk.

I just wish Nina and Mick were back and everything was back to normal.

Anyways here's chapter 13 bye.

**CHAPTER 13:**

**Hiding in Trees and Making Up**

"D'you think we could slow down a little bit?" Alfie called as the eight children plus Mr. Beaver made their way back down the slope and back to the Beavers dam. "Some of us aren't very good at running down hills..." No one answered him. If anything, everyone started moving faster. Alfie sighed. "Yeah. Great. Thanks for listening."

He could hardly blame them, though. The whole thing was hard to cope with. After all, he and Jerome had been thick as theives, and now he was finding out that he'd been friends with a witch the whole time.

"Ow!"

"Sorry, Joy," Alfie muttered, grabbing Joy's shoulders and setting her upright. "I didn't mean to run into you...I should really stop thinking and walking at the same-"

"Wait a second." Joy held up a hand, wrinkling her nose as if trying to concentrate.

Mick raised his eyebrows. "Joy, what's-"

"_Wait_!" Joy hissed. Everyone else slowed to a stop, watching the brunette. Suddenly, her face grew pale. "It's wolves."

"What?" Nina hissed.

"Don't you hear the wolves?" Joy demanded in a frightened voice.

"I don't-"

Suddenly an ear-splitting howl broke into the air, causing Joy to scream.

"_Run!_" cried Eddie, and everyone immediately bolted down the hill, at least ten times faster than they'd been going before. But this time, nobody complained.

"They're after us!" Mr. Beaver cried as the nine of them burst into the dam. Mrs. Beaver's eyes widened with alarm, and she immediately got to work, grabbing white sacks out of a cupboard drawer.

"What's she doing?" Mick asked Mr. Beaver, who rolled his eyes.

"Don't worry, you'll be thanking me later," Mrs. Beaver answered as Nina, Amber, and Joy quickly moved forward to help her. "It's a long journey, and Beaver gets pretty cranky when he's hungry."

"I'M CRANKY NOW!" Mr. Beaver shouted angrily.

"D'you think we need grape jelly, or strawberry jelly?" Amber asked aloud, cocking her head to the side.

"Amber!" Fabian cried, snatching the grape jelly from her and stuffing it into one of the sacks. "Does it matter?"

"Ouch, _someone's_ touchy," she huffed.

Patricia, who stood at the dam door, quickly burst inside. "Hurry, they're coming!"

Mr. Beaver immediately threw a pack over his furry back and padded towards a cupboard, which opened to show a small pathway. "Get in, now!" He began shoving all of them inside one by one, the girls going first. After everyone was safely inside, Mr. Beaver closed the cupboard door behind them and began to lead them down the tunnel. Eddie grabbed a torch and went right behind him, the rest of them following closely behind.

"What is this place?" Nina asked, her voice bouncing off the walls.

"Badger built this," Mr. Beaver explained, his voice low. "It comes out right near his place. We should be safe there."

Suddenly, Amber let out a small yelp as she tripped over a small root sticking up out of the ground, sprawling onto the dirt. Everyone stopped as Fabian bent down, grabbing her hand and yanking her to her feet. "Are you al-"

Suddenly a low growl echoed through the tunnel. Amber's eyes widened. "They're in the tunnel," she said in a horrified whisper.

Everyone burst forwards, not even stopping to look behind them as the wolf growls became increasingly louder and louder.

The tunnel led to a dead end.

"Are you serious?" Eddie groaned.

"We should've brought a map!" Mrs. Beaver cried fretfully.

"There wasn't any room next to the jam!" Mr. Beaver shot back, and leapt up into a hole in the ceiling that no one had noticed before. Quickly, the rest of the children did the same thing, scrambling upwards until they could see the clear sky. Once all of them were up, Mr. Beaver and Mick both grabbed a barrel and rolled it until it was wedged in the mouth of the cave, sealing it closed.

Nina, who was frantically backing away from the mouth of the cave, tripped over something, sprawling backwards. Fabian immediately went to help her up - but stopped. Everyone turned and stared at her. What looked like a stone creature was beneath her.

The eight children surveyed their surroundings. It seemed like they were in some sort of neighborhood for animals - except for there were no animals at all. Just stone creatures. "Creepy..." Alfie said quietly, eyeing a stone squirrell.

Mr. Beaver slowly approached what looked like a stone badger, looking very solemn. "I'm sorry, dear," said Mrs. Beaver, taking her husband's paw in her own.

"He was my best mate," was all Mr. Beaver said in return.

"What is this place?" Fabian wondered aloud, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"This is the consequence for those who trust the witch." Out of nowhere, a fox - a live one at that - bounded up on a stone ledge, peering down at the rest of them.

Mr. Beaver leapt forward as his wife frantically tried to yank him back. "You take one more step, traitor, and I'll chew you to splinters," Mr. Beaver threatened.

"Ouch. That's a bit stereotypical, don't you think?" The fox said cooly, jumping down and coming closer. Instinctively, Eddie and Fabian both half-way stepped in front of Nina, causing Eddie to turn to the brunette and glare at him, as if to say 'What do you think you're doing?' Fabian quickly edged himself away.

The fox rolled his eyes. "Relax. I'm one of the good guys."

"Yeah? Well you look an awful lot like one of the bad ones," Mr. Beaver narrowed his beady eyes.

"An unfortunate family resemblance," the fox answered. "But right now we've got bigger problems." He nodded towards the barrel, which surely wouldn't hold the pack of wolves threatening to break through it any second now.

"What did you have in mind?" Mick blurted out.

Only a moment later, everyone was balanced precariously in a tall tree. Mick, Joy, Nina, and Fabian were on the lowest branch, while Amber, Eddie, and the beavers were on the branch beside them. Alfie and Patricia were in the highest branch.

Patricia hardly had time to balance herself when the wolves burst through the opening, easily knocking the barrel out of the way. They scanned the area, and immediately saw the fox and began circling around him. Which, of course, is exactly what he'd predicted would happen - the wolves would be too busy with him to notice the children and the beavers hiding up in the tree. It was the perfect distraction.

"Greetings, gents," said the fox without batting an eye. Eddie smirked to himself, immediately deciding that he liked this guy. "What's the rush?"

"Don't patronize me," barked one of the wolves. Obviously, this was Maugrim - he seemed to be the leader of the pack. "We're looking for some humans."

"Humans, in Narnia?" The fox asked, sounding surprised. "Hmm. That sounds like valuable information, don't you think?"

Without warning, one of the wolves leapt forward, trapping the fox's torso in its jaws. Amber opened her mouth to scream, but Eddie quickly covered her mouth with his hand. "Your reward is your life. It's not much," he said, chuckling slightly. "But still. Where are the fugitives?"

There was a long pause. Nina clutched onto Fabian tightly, clenching her eyes shut, and Joy grabbed his hand, shutting her eyes as well. Fabian held his breath. The fox was going to give away their hiding spot. The fox was going to betray them. This was it. He shut his eyes.

"North." Nina, Fabian, and Joy's eyes flew open. The fox was weakly pointing off in a completely different direction. "They ran north."

"Smell them out," Maugrim commanded. The wolf holding the fox harshly tossed him to the side, causing him to let out a loud whimper, and the wolf pack took off. Once they were sure that they were long gone, the children and the Beavers peered over the branch where the fox lay limply on the ground.

In about a minute, they'd scrambled down the tree to the fox's aid. Luckily, Mrs. Beaver's packs had come in handy, because in a few seconds she'd gotten out the proper things she needed for mending the fox's wounds. Mick, Fabian, Alfie, and Eddie were immediately sent to look for wood to build a fire while the girls helped take care of the fox. In nearly thirty minutes, it was completely dark and they had a nice fire going as Mrs. Beaver tended to the fox, who kept whining and whimpering in between talking.

"Oh, stop fussing," said Mrs. Beaver. "You're worse than Beaver on bath day."

"Worst day of the year," Mr. Beaver said, shivering. The others smirked.

"Thank you for your kindness," said the fox, slowly standing up on his four legs. "But I'm afraid that's all the care I have time for."

"Wait, you're leaving?" Joy asked in surprise.

"It has been a pleasure, my Queen, and an honor," said the fox, bowing. Joy shuffled her feet awkwardly on the snow, glancing at Patricia, who just shrugged. "But time is short, and Aslan himself has asked me to gather more troops."

There went that feeling again - the churning in their stomachs and the sudden burst of excitement that occurred whenever someone spoke Aslan's name. Mr. and Mrs. Beaver gasped in unison. "You've seen Aslan?" Mr. Beaver asked in astonishment.

"What's He like?" Mrs. Beaver asked excitedly.

The fox smiled. "Like...everything you've ever heard. Of course, He'll be glad to have you on His side on the battle against the witch," he said, turning to the children.

"We _aren't _planning on fighting any witch," Patricia insisted, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"But you must," the fox pleaded. "What about the prophecy?"

"We can't go to war without you," Mr. Beaver admitted.

There was a heavy, awkward silence. Patricia blew her red hair out of her face, Eddie rubbed the back of his neck, Alfie coughed.

Finally, Fabian sighed.

"All we want is our friends back," He said.

"And Mr. Tumnus safe," Nina added softly.

Patricia muttered something under her breath. Nina let out a long breath, but rolled her eyes, choosing to ignore her.

The fox sighed, looking put out. "Right," he said. Then he cleared his throat. "Well, I suppose I'll be off, then." He paused, and then smirked. "Perhaps, someday, we'll meet again."

Nina smiled. "I hope so."

The fox bowed again. "It has been a great pleasure, your majesties." As everyone said their goodbyes, he padded off into the distance.

"What time is it?" Amber asked once he was gone, yawning.

"About ten, dearie," replied Mrs. Beaver.

"Well, I don't know about you all, but I'm going to bed. I'm so tired, I could die," Amber said dramatically.

"Well, someone's going to need to keep watch," said Mr. Beaver. He was met by empty stares. "Not the whole night, but for at least one shift. I can take over later, at least."

Eddie sighed. "I'll do it, I suppose," he said, rather reluctantly. Then again, it wasn't like he was going to get a very good sleep, anyways.

"There ya go, you cheeky little blimer," Mr. Beaver chuckled, pinching his cheek. Eddie grimaced and plopped onto the snow, facing the North, where the wolf pack had run off to. He figured that was the best place he should look out for. "We'll need someone else to help, just in case."

Eddie was wondering why he couldn't just manage by himself when he heard Joy blurt out, "Patricia would love to do it!" Sure enough, Joy had grabbed Patricia's hand and held it up in the air.

"What? No I wouldn't!" Patricia protested.

"You'll thank me later," Joy hissed under her breath.

_Please no, please no, please no, _Eddie thought to himself desperately.

"Great!" Mr. Beaver cried. Eddie groaned. "Well, you two can get ter work, while the rest of us sleep for a bit. I'll wake up later, don't worry," He assured them. For some reason, they doubted he would wake up at all.

Patricia let out a loud groan.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you two will manage to stay awake," Amber chirped. "Just count sheep. That's what I do."

"Amber, counting sheep doesn't keep you awake. Actually, it does just the opposite," Patricia explained.

"_Ohhhhh,_" Amber said. "_That's _why it never worked..."

Patricia let out a loud sigh and plopped onto the ground next to Eddie, crossing her arms over her chest and putting a very good distance between the both of them. Eddie sighed. _Well, this is going to be just great._

Amber smirked at the two of them as she layed on the snow, reminding herself to thank Joy later. It was about time the two of them made up - the tension between them was starting to drive her and the others mad. She watched sleepily as everyone else settled down on the snow - Fabian and Nina chose a spot a little bit aways from the dying fire, and were talking quietly to themselves. Joy and Mick were the closest to Eddie and Patricia, and Alfie was beginning to settle down next to Amber.

Amber pulled her blanket closer to her chest, listening to the quiet chatter amongst her friends. Alfie, on the other hand, was oddly quiet.

"Alfie?" Amber finally asked quietly.

"Yeah?"

"Did you know? About Jerome?"

Alfie turned over so he was facing her. "Do you really think I wouldn't have told you all before if I had?"

"I didn't think you did," Amber said quietly, picking at a loose string on her blanket. "I was just wondering."

Alfie sighed, looking back up at the sky. "I just...feel really, really stupid. Like, I should've seen it coming."

"You had no way of knowing," Amber said gently.

"I did, though," Alfie frowned. "I noticed he was acting different, and I should've said something, but I didn't. I can't believe he dragged innocent Mara into it, though."

"Maybe he didn't," Amber offered. "She could've followed him."

"Why would she do that?"

"Maybe she was trying to prove something. Like that she wasn't scared, or that she was brave, or something."

"Maybe," Alfie replied, shrugging. "Or maybe he forced her to come with him."

Amber didn't think he did. Alfie didn't know Mara as well as she did, and she knew that what most likely happened is that nosy Mara saw Jerome sneaking out, and decided to follow him. But instead, she just said, "Well, he does fancy her."

Alfie sat up straighter. "What?" He asked incredulously.

"Couldn't you tell?" Alfie shook his head. "Well, it was fairly obvious to me. Too bad Mara likes Mick, though."

"Well, yeah," Alfie rolled his eyes. "Everyone knows that. Except Mick, of course." Alfie was quiet for a second. "You are _so _good with that. Knowing when someone fancies someone else. How do you do that?"

Amber grinned. "It's a talent, Alfie."

"You don't always know, though," Alfie said, suddenly becoming interested in the pattern of his blanket. "Sometimes you don't even see it. Even when it's right in front of you."

"Alfie, please. I always know." Amber declared. Alfie looked up at her suddenly, really looked at her. For a long time they just lay like that, just looking at each other. Amber furrowed her eyebrows in concern. "What?"

Alfie flipped so he was facing the sky. "Nothing," he muttered.

Amber watched him curiously for a minute, before shrugging and looking up at the sky as well. "The stars are really pretty here," she commented. "They're a lot different from the ones back at home."

"Yeah, they are," Alfie agreed. "Amber?"

"Mhmm?"

"How did you know that Jerome liked her?"

Amber shrugged. "I don't know. I guess he just...looked at her differently from everyone else."

Alfie sighed. "And you think you know someone," he muttered, barely audible.

But Amber heard it, and sighed. She felt horrible for Alfie - she really did. She couldn't imagine what it would be like to be best friends with someone and then the next minute find out that they were hiding something terrible from you and everyone else and weren't really who you thought they were at all. He was probably doubting everything, now - probably wondering if Jerome had ever really trusted him, if Jerome had ever liked spending time with him. And Amber just wanted to hug him and tell him that of course he did because who wouldn't like spending time with Alfie? But there was that nagging feeling in the back of Amber's mind that said that maybe, Alfie could be right. So she didn't.

"I blame myself, too, you know," Amber admitted. Alfie looked over at her. "If I'd just been paying more attention, I would've seen them sneaking out."

"We were too busy listening to the prophecy and what-not," Alfie rolled his eyes.

"Yeah."

"It'll be okay, though," Alfie murmured.

Amber looked over at him, propping her chin up on her hand. "How do you know?"

"I don't know. We're going to see this Aslan guy, aren't we?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I mean...if He's as great as everyone says he is, then He'll fix it." Alfie replied, shrugging.

Amber offered him a small smile. "I hope so." She snuggled back onto the snow, pulling her blanket closer around her. "Good night, Alfie."

"'Night, Amber." Alfie said, sighing quietly.

Meanwhile, Nina was having a hard time getting to sleep - she had too much to think about. Like Mr. Tumnus, and the prophecy, and Jerome and Mara. Turning away from them to face Fabian - or, more like Fabian's back. Nina frowned. "Fabian?"

Fabian slowly turned over so he was facing her. "Yeah?"

"Are you okay?" She asked concernedly. "I mean, I know this has to be really hard for you-"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Fabian replied, straining a smile. Nina lifted an eyebrow, and he sighed. "No. I'm really not."

Nina chewed her bottom lip. "Do you want to talk about it?" She asked softly.

"It's just..." His voice trailed off, then he sighed again. "It's all my fault," he admitted.

"Fabian, it is not," Nina said gently. "You had nothing to do with it. Jerome went to the Witch all on his own."

"Yes, but I pushed him to it!" Fabian cried quietly, so as not to disturb the others. "I...I was too hard on him. I was rude and selfish and that comment I made the day you found the wardrobe..." he shook his head. "It was wrong. It is all my fault. I could've stopped it."

"Fabian, stop it. You're just as much to blame as the rest of us. All of us should have noticed something, all of us should have seen them sneak out," Nina said assuredly.

"But he's my cousin!" Fabian cried. "He's staying with me - he's my guest, I was supposed to take care of him! What if we can't save them, Nina? How am I supposed to go back home and explain to my mum that I couldn't protect my own cousin?"

"Hey," Nina spoke softly and reassuringly. "That's not going to happen. That's why we're going to see Aslan, remember? So He can save them."

"But what if it's too late?" Fabian asked softly.

Nina reached down and grabbed his hand, giving it a tight squeeze. "Whatever happens, you're not alone, okay? We're all in this together, remember?"

Fabian squeezed her hand in return and intertwining his fingers with hers. "Thanks, Nina," he said softly, smiling at her.

She smiled back.

They fell asleep like that, their hands still intertwined, and small smiles on their faces.

Which did not go unnoticed by Joy, who watched the two of them, a small scowl on her face.

She knew she was torturing herself, just by watching them. But she was so overcome with longing - wishing that Fabian looked like her like that, wishing that Fabian still even talked to her the same way he had before Nina arrived - that she couldn't look away. Finally, the two of them stopped talking and Joy sighed, flipping over and facing the opposite direction.

She knew she was horrible. After all, she hadn't even started liking Fabian again until Nina had come into the picture. Maybe it was like that saying went..."you never know what you have until it's gone." She knew she was stupid for liking him when he never paid him a bit of attention, and she knew that they had next to nothing in common. But he was so cute, and so kind...and honestly, Joy had always thought that he was really a beautiful person.

And you rarely meet those.

And Joy knew she needed to stop liking him. She'd tried, she really had. But every time she did, something just drew her back in.

Joy sighed loudly.

"Can't get to sleep either, huh?" Joy nearly jumped out of her skin. She turned and looked at Mick, who was now facing her, raising his eyebrows.

"Something like that," Joy replied. She turned to look at him. "Why can't you sleep?"

"In a place like this?" Mick snorted. "Yeah, right."

Joy just nodded in agreement, but hid a smirk. She knew that only in a matter of minutes, Mick would be fast asleep. He loved to sleep. "Are you...are you worried about Jerome and Mara?"

"Jerome, not so much," Mick said in a low voice, just in case Fabian heard him. "But Mara, yeah." Joy cracked a smile, imagining what Mara would say if she knew that Mick was worried about her. She would probably be ecstatic. "I just kind of want to get out of here."

Joy raised her eyebrows. "I thought you wanted to stay and find Mr. Tumnus and what-not?"

"I don't know...this whole thing has gotten really out of hand." Mick admitted. "I mean, this whole kings and queens thing? It's crazy."

Joy chewed her bottom lip. "Mick? Do you think there really is a Chosen One?"

Mick shook his head. "No way. The whole thing...it's ridiculous. I mean, can you see any of us being Kings and Queens and Chosen Ones or whatever? Imagine Alfie as a King, if you will." Joy giggled, and Mick smirked. "Why? Do you think there's a Chosen One?"

"I don't know," Joy murmured, fiddling with her blanket. "I mean, it's silly...but maybe? I don't know. It's just...the whole time Mr. Beaver was talking about it...it just gave me this weird feeling."

Mick just nodded, turning to stare up at the night sky. "If there _is _a Chosen One..." Mick said thoughtfully. "It would probably be Nina or Eddie, I think."

Joy turned to look at him. "Why?"

"Well, it would be the Americans, wouldn't it?"

Joy just rolled her eyes, laughing slightly. "Goodnight, Mick," she said, rolling over and pulling the blanket closer to her chest.

"Goodnight."

Slowly, one by one, the children and the Beavers began dropping off to sleep, the quiet chatter slowly coming to a stop, and the embers of the fire starting to die. The only two people awake were Patricia and Eddie, who still sat in the same position as they had been when they'd first been assigned look-out duty, and still weren't talking.

Finally, Eddie stood up to grab some matches from his pack, using them to relight the fire. Patricia watched him out of the corner of her eye, but immediately snapped her head to the front once he returned to sit down next to her again.

The two of them hadn't spoken a single word to each other since the day Eddie had caught her crying in the corridor, which had been a week ago. Of course, Eddie was still cross at Patricia being cruel to his sister for the past few weeks, and blaming everything on her only a few hours ago, while Patricia was still cross with him for yelling at her in the dining hall and bringing up her dad and seeing her crying in the corridor.

_You have every right to be furious at her, _Eddie reminded himself. _She's been horrible. _But the more he kept telling himself that, the more and more guilty he felt. If he really thought about it, he _had _said some pretty rude things during their fight in the dining hall. He'd made _the _Patricia Williamson _cry. _And the look on her face when he'd caught her in the corridor...

"I'm sorry," Eddie blurted out before he even really knew what he was doing.

Patricia turned to him sharply, surprised. "What?"

"Come on, are you going to make me say it again?" Eddie squirmed uncomfortably. He hadn't apologized for something in...well, he couldn't even remember. Patricia crossed her arms over her chest expectantly, and Eddie sighed. "Fine. _I'm sorry. _Okay? I mean, I'm not expecting you to forgive me or anything, but the guilt was just...eating at me." Eddie ducked his head embarrassedly as Patricia hid a smile. "I guess...I guess I shouldn't have yelled at you last week and said all of those things. Especially because they weren't true, and they were really rude." He paused. "And I didn't mean to make you c-"

"Yeah, I know," Patricia immediately cut him off, shifting awkwardly. "I get it." She sighed. "I'm sorry too," she admitted. Eddie arched his eyebrows in surprise. "I suppose I might've been a little rude-"

"A little?" Eddie scoffed.

"Hey," Patricia warned. Eddie rolled his eyes and let her finish. "To you and your sister. I said a lot of nasty things last week in the dining room that weren't true and were things I shouldn't have said. And I suppose, if I'm being honest...I gave your sister a pretty hard time. I treated her like she was insane, and, it turns out, she wasn't. And I suppose I have been blaming everything on her since we've got her...which, I suppose, is rather childish and isn't very fair. So...I guess...I'm sorry."

Eddie raised his eyebrows. "You guess?"

Patricia huffed. "Fine! I'm very, truly sorry. Are you happy?"

"Very." Eddie smirked at her, the same smirk he always gave her when he was being arrogant. Which was, generally, all the time. Patricia crossed her arms in front of her chest and glared at him, trying to ignore the happy butterflied that were bouncing around in her stomach. She'd _almost _missed this. Almost. "Although, party of your apology might have been directed towards the wrong person..." He said, pointedly glancing over at Nina, who was fast asleep.

"Do you mean that I just apologized for no reason at all?" Patricia demanded.

"Well, not really. I mean, I _did _get the satisfaction of hearing _the_ Patricia Williamson - or Yacker, which I highly prefer -" Patricia rolled her eyes, "_apologize. _I mean, how often does that happen? And you went _on _about it, too - hey!" He cried as Patricia punched him in the shoulder. "You might want to take some lessons on apologizing, though. Doesn't seem like you've had much practice."

"Oh, like you're one to talk!" Patricia scoffed.

"As a way to go, though, how did I do?" Eddie asked, smirking.

"Awful," Patricia declared. Then she gave him the tiniest of smiles. "But, apology accepted."

Eddie tried to repress the large smile that was beginning to break out across his face, but lost. Instead, he sat there, beaming at Patricia like some sort of idiot. But, honestly, he didn't really care. He was just sort of glad that they didn't hate each other anymore.

Or at least, _really _hate each other.

"Now that you two have kissed and made up," said a groggy voice from behind them. The two of them turned around to see Mick, glaring sleepily at them. "Can you _shut up _already?"

Patricia laughed. "Got your knickers in a twist, Mick?" Eddie snickered. Mick groaned and slumped back onto the snow, wrapping himself up in his blanket tighter.

Still, Eddie and Patricia didn't really say anything after that, just sat there and stared at the empty forest. A few hours later, Eddie's vision was starting to get hazy and he was starting to nod off, until he felt something on top of him. He looked down at Patricia, who was now curling into a ball on the ground, her head resting in his lap. I widened my eyes in surprise. "Uh, Yacker..."

"Shut up, I'm sleeping," Patricia muttered, her words slurring together.

Patricia's dark red hair splayed across his lap and he stared at it curiously through his blurry, sleepy gaze. Eddie had always kind of liked her hair. He liked the way that sometimes it was a vibrant red, and then sometimes it was so dark, it could've been almost a light black. And it was always so thick looking, too.

And maybe it was the cold, or the fact that Eddie was so tired, but suddenly, he had the urge to run his fingers through Patricia's hair.

So, he did - tentatively at first. It was thick, but not rough...it was kind of soft. Ish.

So he ran his hands through it again.

**A/N:**

ugh I'm so sorry that I can't write Peddie omg please forgive me

Sorry this chapter was a little bit of a filler...I just needed Patricia and Eddie to make up and I needed a bunch of the other characters to have conversations with other characters and I'm sorry if it seemed kind of coupley and if it was too long.

Also there were a lot of quotes from the show in this chapter...like the, "Just count sheep, that's what I always do." "Amber, counting sheep doesn't keep you awake. In fact, it does just the opposite." "Oh...so _that's _why it never worked."

And also the "It would be the American, wouldn't it?" (which is Jerome's line but I gave it to Mick just because I needed it in this story) and "As a way to go, how did I do?" "Terrible...but, apology accepted." Aaaand "Everytime I do, something just draws me back in." (I love that quote so much)

(Props to you if you can name the episode they're from and/or what situation it's used in)

**QUESTION FOR THE CHAPTER: **_**Which Narnia character are you most like? **_I asked which HOA character you were most like last chapter, so I decided to ask which Narnia character for this chapter. It doesn't have to be one of the Pevensies, either. I think I'm most like either Lucy Pevensie or Jill Pole - Lucy because she loves to have fun and be imaginative, and Jill...I don't know, I think she's just a really relatable character for everyone. I don't know, these two characters have always been my favorites of the series (along with Edmund and Eustace) and I've just always related to them the most.

Thanks for reading and please review! :)


	14. Guilt and Betrayal

**A/N: **Well, it sure has been a while...

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN:**

**At the Witch's House**

"We're going to die, we're going to die, we're going to die..."

"Jaffray," Jerome sighed as he watched the petite girl pace anxiously back and forth in front of him, sort of limping because of the heavy chain tied to her ankle.

"We're going to die. _We're going to die. _We're going to die, I'm going to die, this isn't happening, if I just pinch myself then-"

"_Mara!_" Jerome cried. Mara looked down at him, startled. "You need to calm down."

"You expect me to calm down? Why aren't _you _freaking out?" Mara demanded, her voice shaking. "_You're_ the one that dragged me into this!"

"Hmm, that's funny, I don't recall _dragging _you into this at all." Jerome replied snarkily, narrowing her eyes. "In fact, I remember telling you multiple times that you should leave. It's _your _fault you didn't listen to me."

Mara sat on the icy cold floor, shivering slightly. "I just wanted to know where you were going," she said. "And once I found out, I very well couldn't send you off on your own to die, could I?"

"Cut the act, Jaffray. Why would you even care if I die or not?"

"Because I'm a nice person," Mara said quietly.

Jerome scoffed. "Well, I hate to break it to you, Jaffray, but there aren't any truly nice people in the world. At the end of day, the only person that everyone really cares about is themselves."

"What happened?" Mara asked in a quiet voice.

"What are you talking about?"

Mara tucked a strand of her dark brown hair behind her ear, but didn't look away from him. "I'm just wondering what happened to make you so horrible and negative to everyone else."

For a second, Jerome was almost startled. Then he just shook his head, a cold smirk sliding into place. "Maybe I'm just naturally a horrible person." Jerome looked down at his plate, examining the roll of bread.

Mara just looked down, deciding out of all of the stupid decisions she'd ever made, following Jerome had to be the worst.  
Jerome picked up the roll of bread on his plate, rolled it over in his hand, and hesitantly took a bite. It was rock solid and cold. "Ugh!" Jerome cried, recoiling his hand.

"Are you going to eat that?" Jerome flinched and Mara jumped nearly a mile in the air. The two of them turned to face the voice, which had come from the cell next to them. For some incredibly odd reason, Jerome was expecting Mick to be at the other side. _Funny, _Jerome thought to himself humorlessly. _I almost hoped that he was._

Inside the cell was a feeble-looking man with his legs chained, just like Jerome and Mara's were. Except for his legs weren't human legs at all...they were goat legs.

Suddenly, Jerome began to feel very sick.

"Here," Jerome muttered weakly, moving forward to hand him the roll of bread. With great struggle, the faun dragged himself across his own cell, moving towards the gate that separated the two cells. After much groaning, the faun reached the gate. Jerome passed the roll of bread through a hole, and the faun gladly took it, nibbling quickly. "Mr...Tumnus?" Jerome asked slowly, hoping and praying that it wasn't him.

"What's left of him," he replied gruffly. Jerome's stomach began to churn, and suddenly he found that he couldn't look him in the face.

"Y-you're Nina's friend," said Mara.

Suddenly, Mr. Tumnus looked up. "Yes," he replied. "And I'm assuming you two are her friends as well?" Wordlessly, the two of them nodded. "Is Nina alright?" Jerome and Mara exchanged glances. "Is she safe?" Mr. Tumnus asked desperately.

Jerome cringed and Mara sniffled slightly. "I-I dunno," she whispered.

Suddenly, the doors to the jail room slammed open and the White Witch marched in. "My police tore that dam apart," she declared, narrowing her eyes at Jerome and Mara. "Your little friends were nowhere to be found."

Mara bit her lip to keep herself from letting out a sigh of relief.

The Witch looked between the two children. Her eyes focused on Mara, who was easily the weakest of the two. Without warning, she grabbed her by the collar and hoisted her in the air. Mara let out a scream.

Jerome's heart lurched. "Leave her alone!"

"Where did they go?" The Witch demanded to Mara, who was too scared to even cry.

"I don't know!" Mara stammered out, shaking.

The Witch threw her to the ground and raised her wand high above her head. "Then you two have no further use to me," she said coldly.

Mara clenched her eyes shut. This was it. This would be the very last moment of her life. She was just beginning to watch her life flash before her eyes when Jerome cried out, "Wait!"

Her eyes flew open, and the Witch stopped. Jerome paused, glancing between Mara and the Witch. No, he wasn't going to die like this. He refused to. "The beavers said something about Aslan!" Jerome blurted out.

Suddenly, the Witch paled, lowering her wand. "Aslan?" She asked, sounding panicked. "Where?"

Mara bit her lip so hard it nearly bled, desperately trying not to say anything. Although, it seemed like Mr. Tumnus had it covered for her. "He's a stranger here, your Majesty, he can't be expected to know anything!" He shouted desperately. The White Witch's dwarf butted Mr. Tumnus in the head with the bottom of his axe and Mr. Tumnus let out a groan.

"I said," the Witch narrowed her eyes on Jerome. "Where. Is. Aslan?"

Jerome glanced at Mara, who was pleading him to shut up with her eyes. Finally, Jerome turned back to the witch. "I-I dunno," He stammered out. "We left before they said anything." The Witch sighed, rolling her eyes. "I wanted to see you!" Jerome cried.

The Witch stared at Jerome for a long time. "Guard!" She cried without breaking eye contact. A large, scary looking beast entered the room, carrying a large club. Mara cringed, waiting for the Witch to give the command to beat her and Jerome to a bloody pulp for telling lies. But it didn't come. "Release the Faun," the Witch said instead. Jerome's eyes widened and the Witch smirked. Using his club, the ugly creature beat harshly at Mr. Tumnus's shackles until they broke open, and he roughly dragged the poor faun over to the Witch, throwing him at her feet.

"Do you know why you're here, faun?" the Witch demanded over Mr. Tumnus's loud whimpering.

Slowly, Mr. Tumnus raised himself up to look the Witch in the eyes. "Because I believe in a free Narnia."

The witch's lips twitched. "No. _You're _here because _he,_" she turned and pointed her wand at Jerome, who flinched. "Turned you in." Mr. Tumnus turned to face him, betrayal written all over his face. "For sweets," she added.

Mara stared between the two of them, completely at a loss for words. Finally, Jerome broke eye contact with the faun, staring down at his lap. "Take him upstairs," the Witch commanded harshly. "And ready my sleigh." Her eyes focused on Jerome and Mara. "I think someone misses their friends."

The beast harshly dragged Mr. Tumnus out of the jail room. The faun's groans and whimpers were heard for a long time, until finally, he was completely out of sight, leaving Jerome to crawl into a small, miserable little ball. He could practically feel Mara's eyes on the back of his head, judging him.

"What are they going to do to him?" Mara whispered finally.

"Mara, I don't-"

"Just tell me," she said softly.

Jerome sighed. "She's probably going to turn him to stone."

Mara swallowed hard. "Is that what she was going to do when she raised her wand at us?"

"Yeah."

Mara stood up again, slowly pacing back and forth, and Jerome groaned quietly. "Was that true? What she said?" She stopped, turning to look at him. "Did you really turn him in for candy?"

Jerome sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I didn't really - I mean, it was sort of an accident..." He looked up at Mara, who was glaring at him "Okay. _Fine_. I turned him in for bloody _candy_. Are you happy now?" He snapped.

Mara sniffled. "That's horrible, Jerome. So horrible," Mara whispered, her voice wobbly. "How could you do that? How could you just turn someone in that had _helped _one of our friends? He didn't even do anything wrong!" Mara's voice began to rise, and she sniffled again. "And now he's most likely-"

"Mara!" Jerome whirled around, glaring at her. "I don't want to hear it!"

"Well, I don't think that poor Mr. Tumnus wants to be turned into stone, either, but he doesn't have much of a choice, no thanks to you." Mara said angrily. "Not to mention you practically turned in our own friends as well, telling the Witch where they were! Do you really hate them that much? Fabian is your _cousin! _Do you really just want them to be killed? Would you get some kind of satisfaction from that?"

"God, do you ever _shut up_?" Jerome demanded.

Then Mara burst into tears.

It was only natural that she would cry, after all. She felt sad and alone and angry and scared all at the same time and of course, someone can't just keep all of those emotions bottled up at one time. They'd explode.

But it didn't make it any less embarrassing as she stood there, bawling her eyes out in front of Jerome. In fact, she was crying so hard that her vision was blurry and she could barely make out his face, but she knew that if she were able to, he would probably be laughing at her.

She'd tried. She'd really and truly tried not to cry in front of him so he wouldn't humiliate her...she'd promised herself she'd save her tears for when she was alone, whenever that time was. But there she was, sobbing, and she just couldn't stop.

Still crying, she turned her back to him and sat on the cold ground, maybe thinking that if she wasn't looking at him then it would be like she wasn't even there. Jerome, on the other hand, watched her, a weird expression on his face - but he wasn't making fun of her. In fact, he felt rather guilty. After all, he hadn't meant to make her cry, and after the whole incident with Mr. Tumnus, he felt like guilt after guilt was piling up inside of him and that he might burst.

"Mara-" Jerome began.

"Stop it," Mara choked out between tears. "Don't even try to make fun of me for being a big baby and crying, I _don't _need it right now."

To be honest, the thought hadn't even crossed Jerome's mind. Mara was still sitting there, curled into a miserable little ball, sobbing her heart out and Jerome felt as though he should do something. But he was scared that if did try to speak to her, the two words sitting at the very tip of his tongue ("I'm sorry") would roll out, and based off of the incredible amount of guilt he was feeling, he was terrified that once he'd started, he wouldn't be able to stop ("I'm sorry for making you cry, I'm sorry I got you into this, I'm sorry I told the witch where the dam was, I'm sorry I mentioned Aslan, I'm sorry I turned in Nina's friend for Turkish Delight.")

And he was Jerome Clarke. He didn't apologize under any circumstances - even if it did have to do with girls crying.

After a few minutes, Mara's sobs recessed to cries, then short gasps, then sniffles, and then nothing but the occasional shudder. Jerome figured that this was probably a good sign. Slowly, Mara turned around to face Jerome, her eyes rimmed red. "We could die here."

Jerome just stared back at her, unblinking.

"What do you think would happen if we died here?" Jerome didn't answer her. "I don't suppose our bodies would magically be transported back to the professor's house. Or maybe they would, and Trudy would just randomly walk in the wardrobe room and find all of us, a pile on the floor."

"Mara, stop it." Jerome winced slightly.

Mara looked at him in fake innocence. "What, did I strike a chord, after all? What a surprise. After that facade you hide behind, no one would ever think to guess that you had feelings, after all." She paused, looking at Jerome with scrutiny. He just looked back at her. "Then again, suppose our bodies don't get transported back to Earth. No one would know what happened to us - no one would ever find out. Maybe they'd hang up missing signs or get the police involved and maybe they'd have a memorial but they'd never be able to find us and our families would never know what happened to us."

"Mara-"

"It's your fault." She said, cutting him off, her eyes stinging with tears. "It's all your fault. I could have had a future - _all of us _could have had futures. What if, the next time you decide to blurt out some information, the others aren't quite so lucky? What if, next time, the wolves kill all of our friends?"

"Jaffray, I-"

"I hate you." Somewhere deep inside, Mara felt a sharp twang. She'd never told someone that she'd hated them before and she'd always felt strongly against it, and the flicker of hurt that flashed in Jerome's eyes was almost enough to make her stop being so cruel - but not enough. She was so angry, she was literally seeing red. "You're despicable, do you know that? How _dare_ you drag my friends and me into this! They're probably on a search party to find us, instead of going home, which is what we would've done, had you not decided to be a selfish prick. What if the others get themselves killed trying to save us? Do you _ever _think about how your actions might affect others, Jerome?" Jerome didn't answer her. "No, of course you don't. You don't care about anyone but yourself and I hate you, I hate you _so much._"

A long silence stretched in between the two of them, and Mara panted, feeling as though a gigantic weight had been lifted off her shoulders, but at the same time, feeling a churning feeling in her stomach that she always felt when she knew she'd done something that was wrong and out of line.

It seemed like ages before Jerome spoke. "You're right."

Mara's eyebrows raised in surprise. "What?"

"Can't you hear, Mara?" Jerome snarled mockingly. "I said you're right. It's all my fault that both of us are here and it's all my fault that the others are in danger and...what else did you say? Oh right, that I'm a selfish prick. Yep, I'd have to agree with that one, as well." Mara just looked at him. "Well, there you go. I just reaffirmed everything you just said. That is what you wanted. What, did you think that it would somehow make everything okay? Or did you just want to be a pathetic little know-it-all one last time before our immediate death, as you like to put it?"

Mara's eyes began to water again. "I-"

"You hate me. Yeah, I know. Look, Jaffray, it feels strange for _me _to say this, but you might not want to be such a downer all the time. Did you ever stop to think that perhaps we won't die after all and that maybe I'll come up with an ingenious way to save our lives?"

"You're _impossible._" Mara said, narrowing her eyes.

Jerome just arrogantly smirked at her and Mara huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. A small silence lapsed between them.

"Do you really hate me?"

Mara's head snapped up as she gazed at Jerome from across the cell. His head was bent and he was staring intently at his lap, scared that if he looked up at her, she would be able to tell by the expression on her face that he actually cared about her answer. Mara looked at him, surprised - his arrogant tone from before had evaporated and been replaced with a voice that sounded almost...well, vulnerable.

Mara let out a long sigh. "I suppose not." Jerome didn't answer, and Mara sighed again. "I'm...I'm just angry and upset and scared, and I wasn't thinking when I said all of those things. They were mean and hurtful and although it felt good at the moment to say them, I shouldn't have. Just because I was angry with you - and I _am _still angry with you, by the way - doesn't give me an excuse to be mean and tell you I hate you, because I don't. So, I'm sorry."

He didn't answer her for a while, but when he did, it was on a completely unrelated topic. "The others are still out there, you know." Jerome said, still looking down and playing with a loose string on his trousers. "They're bound to come rescue us or something. We'll get out of here."

"And what if they don't rescue us?" Mara countered.

Jerome sighed, running his hand through his hair. "I don't know, Mara..." he said almost exasperatedly, finally looking up at her. "Just...trust me."

Mara looked at him for a long time. Trusting Jerome? That was like trusting a rattle-snake. He was a big, complicated mystery - sometimes he was an arrogant jerk who loved nothing more than bringing others down to his level, and sometimes he was funny and witty and actually sort of fun to be around. But still, at that moment, Jerome Clarke was the only person she had. Jerome Clarke was, at that moment, the only person she _could _trust. And despite how scary of a thought that was, he was looking at her with _such _sincerity.

"I trust you," Mara finally replied.

They were three simple words, really, but for some reason they made Jerome's palms start to sweat and his face feel warm (despite the below zero degrees weather). And somewhere in the back of his mind it occurred to him that he couldn't remember another girl ever telling him they'd trusted him before. As a matter of fact, Jerome couldn't remember _anyone _ever telling him that they trusted him before. And without completely realizing it, Jerome softly smiled at her.

And it wasn't one of his annoying trademark smirks. It was an actual, real smile, something Mara had never seen Jerome make, especially not to her. And, despite his sometimes (well, more like usually) annoying personality, he had a really nice smile. A smile that might have just made her heart skip a beat and a small blush to spread across her tan cheeks. (Which Jerome, of course, noticed, and only made his smile grow wider.)

And despite the fact that her life was in danger, and that she was still angry with him, she smiled back.

**JOY**

"It's time to get up, dear."

"Hang on, Trudy," I muttered, turning over.

"Come on, dearie. We've got to get a move on."

I opened my eyes. At first, I was scared. I couldn't remember why I was lying on the ground covered with snow, instead of at home, safe in my own bed, much less why a beaver was shaking me and telling me to wake up. Then, all the events from yesterday came rushing back. The wardrobe, Mr. Tumnus, the beavers. _Mara and Jerome. _I felt tears sting in my eyes, but then I quickly pushed them back. Crying would be useless.

I just really hoped that Mara was safe.

Slowly, I sat up, yawning. Mrs. Beaver had moved on to wake up Amber. _Good luck with that one, _I thought to myself. "If you could help get everyone else up, Joy, dear, that would be lovely," said Mrs. Beaver.

I sighed, and slowly stood up, brushing the snow off of myself. I scanned the area for Patricia, and when I finally found her, I laughed. She was curled up into Eddie's lap, fast asleep. Eddie's hand was gently tangled in her hair, like he'd been playing with it before he'd fallen asleep, and he was hunched over, sleeping while sitting straight up.

_I should probably wake them up, _I mused. But they looked so cute, that I didn't want to.

I turned to find Fabian, who was lying in the snow not too far away from Patricia. He was still fast asleep and his dark hair was tousled and he looked adorable. But then again, he always looked adorable. I moved towards him to wake him up, and then stopped.

Lying right next to him was Nina, their hands intertwined.

I sucked in a deep breath and closed my eyes momentarily, trying not to let my anger get _too _strong a hold on me, and bent down next to Fabian, tousling his hair more. "Oh, Fabes," I singsonged.

"Five more minutes, Mum," he mumbled.

I stifled a laugh. "Fabian, it's Joy. Get up, we've got to get a move on."

Fabian jumped up suddenly, causing his arm to tear away from Nina's. I smiled smugly to myself. _Perfect. _"Joy? Wait, where am-" Suddenly realisation dawned on him. "Oh. Right."

"Yeah. Happened to me this morning, too." I paused. "I almost wish I hadn't remembered the whole thing at all."

Fabian grimaced, and I knew he was probably thinking of Jerome. I bit my lip, feeling bad for him. Although Jerome wasn't my favorite person in the world, I hoped that he was safe, too. He wasn't _all _bad, I supposed, and besides, he was Fabian's cousin. "Yeah," Fabian agreed quietly. "Me too."

I offered him a small smile, taking his hand comfortingly. "Everything will be alright in the end."

Fabian gave me a weak smile. "Yeah. I hope so."

At that moment, Nina yawned loudly, blinking sleepily and slowly sitting up. I knew it was wrong, but I didn't let go of Fabian's hand. I wanted her to see us. I wanted her to know how I felt when I saw the two of them together. If anything, I held onto Fabian's hand tighter. And the best part was, Fabian didn't object.

Nina blinked again, and looked at me, then Fabian, then our hands. Quickly, her eyes snapped back up to the both of us again. "Oh, Nina. I was just about to wake you," I chirped, smirking.

"Oh, were you?" Nina deadpanned, looking back down at our hands again. "That's very kind of you."

"Oh, good, all three of you are up!" chirped Mrs. Beaver, causing all three of us to turn to us. At that moment, Fabian let go of my hand, and I sighed, disappointed. "Go and help wake up everyone else, would you? We really _really_ must be going."

Suddenly, Amber let out a loud scream, and all of us turned to her, frantically. My first thought was that the wolves had found us again, but I didn't see any wolves anywhere. "Amber, what's wrong?" Alfie cried, panicked. I wondered briefly when he'd woken up.

"Look!" Amber cried, pointing at Eddie and Patricia, who were still in the same position, but they were just starting to stir. I let out a sigh of relief as all of us came to circle around the sleeping couple, glad that there was no real danger. Other than the fact that Patricia would kill Eddie when she woke up. _Unless she decided to sleep like that willingly..._

"Awwww, how cute!" Amber squealed, clapping her hands together. The rest of us burst into laughter, which promptly woke both Patricia and Eddie up. At first, they seemed confused, but after they realized what position they were in, they quickly leapt away from each other as if the other person had a disease, both of them blushing fire-engine red. Which, of course, caused our laughter to increase.

"Ya call that keepin' watch?" Mr. Beaver asked, smirking and peering at Eddie.

"Oh, whatever," Eddie mumbled, blushing even more.

"Just for the record, I think you two would make a _fantastic _couple," Amber declared, grinning.

"_Amber!_" Patricia and Eddie groaned in unison, blushing.

Amber just gave them a sweet smile.

**A/N: **

Wow, it feels kinda weird writing this with with all of the season 1 and season 2 characters in it, since I've been on a season three mindset recently. Hope you still liked the chapter, though :) And I'm so so so so SO sorry it's taken so long to update!

_**QUESTION FOR THE CHAPTER: What are your thoughts on season 3 so far? **_I actually like it a lot more than I thought I would. The mystery is really great and although I miss Nina and Mick and **AMBER** (omg I'm sobbing for the rest of my life I will never get over it), I love the new characters. I actually like KT a lot more than Willow, which is odd because I thought I would hate KT and be obsessed with Willow. I do like Willow, but she's not one of my faves (I'd probably like her more if she wasn't causing a problem with Jara...is that bad for me to think? Oops oh well). Also I hate that ALL of my favorite couples broke up - although Jara did get back together last episode and if you don't think Peddie is going to get back together by the end of the season then you have brain issues. But my poor Fabina and Amfie babies omg :( (Although Amfie didn't really break up...)

But anyways, TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK! :D


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